Return my Past: Lyoko the Second Generation
by lizzpercush
Summary: Stella Stern is a strange girl. What's stranger then posing as your best friends' sister at your parents insistence? Maybe being attacked by a demonic A.I. bent on taking over the world. Stella just wishes she could be herself. Too bad she has amnesia END
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

**Chapter 1:**

"I can't believe you're finally here!" squealed Sakura as she pulled Estella into a bone crushing hug.

Smiling, arms hanging limp, and trusting Sakura not to crush her, Estella smiled timidly.

"I can't believe it either. I thought my parents would never let me come." Estella said as she subconsciously checked to make sure her hat was still in place.

"Our parents," corrected Sakura firmly, her brown eyes now serious.

Sakura looked at the boxes scattered around Estella's feet in the Kaddic Academy's courtyard. She whistled, "You brought a lot of stuff."

Sakura picked up a box and stacked it onto an empty cart especially used for luggage. "And you're late. Most boarding students moved in last week. You're drawing unnecessary attention to yourself. Besides whom are you going to finagle into helping you move all this?"

Stella's brown eyes danced with the prospect of mischief. "You and Riley."

Sakura nearly dropped her box, "Riley?! How did you get Riley to—?"

"Pizza." Stella replied simply, shrugging her shoulders in an 'isn't it obvious' motion.

Sakura groaned. "I should have known. The way to our brother's heart is through his stomach."

"Isn't that the truth," a deep male voice spoke.

"RILEY!" Estella cried in jubilation.

She tackled said big brother into an enthusiastic hug. Chuckling Riley looked over Estella's shoulder, and smiled smugly at his sister his grey eyes dancing with laughter.

"Riley," Sakura said in an arrogant apathetic 'I'm barely tolerating you' tone of voice.

"Sakura," He matched

"Drew," some one interjected.

"Who?" asked Estella confusion clouding on her forehead.

Riley stepped back and motioned to the tall blonde hazel eyed surfer dude hunk behind him, not that Sakura noticed.

"Estella, Sakura meet my best mate or one of them, Andrew. Andrew, my sisters. The one glowering at you is Sakura, and the one with the funny hat is Estella."

"This is happy feet?" Estella asked inquisitively.

Drew winced and scuffed the dirt with his foot. "So he told you about that?"

"No, Sakura did. I'm going to my room. All my boxes are here. I've already ordered pizza." And with that she left.

Drew directed a raised eyebrow at Riley who just shrugged and picked up a box. Sakura frowned and grabbed a duffle bag to wrestle with as she followed her sister.

000

"What's up with your sister?" Drew asked as he and Riley walked up the stairs each carrying a box.

"Which one?" Riley grunted.

"Estella, strange name."

"Don't know. Acting strange. Nightmares." Riley grunted. Wasn't it lucky that Drew got the box filled with stuffed animals, and he got the one with all of Stella's books?

"She won't talk about it. She's spooked." At the threshold of the stairs he put down the box releasing a gush of air. Straightening he replied in more complete sentences. "Everyone's worried, but she won't open up to anyone, not even Sakura about the specifics."

"What kind of nightmares—?" Drew's question was cut off as his cell phone vibrated.

0) --

Sakura in Estella's room fell on the bed panting.

"What did you pack in that duffle of yours, rocks?"

Stella giggled form her spot on the floor. She and Sakura had started the unpacking process. Stella was the eye of the storm with boxes of clothes, CDs, and other essential teenage stuff scattered around her.

"No, books," Stella replied lightheartedly.

Sakura lolled her head toward Stella.

"You read way too much."

"Well you read way too little." Stella retorted.

Sakura snorted then jumped.

"What the—" She tugged out her phone from her pocket and turned it on.

"Hello? Uh-huh. Uh-huh." Swiftly glancing at Stella and back Sakura smoothly said. "17.39? Okay, gotcha."

Stella was happily folding and sorting her clothes when Sakura hung up the phone.

"Hey, Stella, that was the pizza dude; he had trouble at the gates. He needs someone to meet and pay for the pizza."

Stella looked up, "I'll go."

Careful to sound natural Sakura rebuffed her, "Nah, I got it. You unpack those books of yours."

Happy with that idea, Stella let Sakura leave. Stella frowned after the door closed. She started to rise, and then stopped. Puzzled, a frown creased her forehead.

Sakura had glanced at her phone like there was a text message, one. Two, she hadn't ended the call (Sakura didn't have a flip phone). And if that **was** the pizza dude, why had Sakura left her behind? And how did the pizza dude get Sakura's phone number?

What was up with Sakura, Stella asked herself.

000

_Scanner: Sakura Stern_

_ Scanner: Riley Stern_

_ Scanner: Andrew Della Robia_

_ Transfer: Sakura_

_ Transfer: Riley_

_ Transfer: Andrew_

Virtualization

The figure at the super computer then initiated his own countdown with a stall time after his friends had been sent to a restored Lyoko.

Lyoko had been back for 15 years now; XANA with it.

Leaning against the elevator wall bored, his onyx eyes seemed glazed over, but he was deep in thought. He brushed black hair out of his eyes as they narrowed. He walked out of the elevator and into an empty scanner. He waited for the countdown to reach zero and start his virtualization.

His card or profile on the super calculator showed his Lyoko form beside the others, and his name. XANA.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

**Chapter**** 2:**

Back in her dorm room, Stella had found her boom box or CD player. She was currently singing at the top of her lungs to Hannah Montana's latest song, "Nobody's Perfect"

"Nobody's Perfect/ I gotta work it/ again and again/ nah Na Nah." Stella danced around the room putting stuff together with the music blaring.

There was a knock on the door. Although Stella couldn't hear it she stopped as if she sensed something. The music continued to blare on, but Stella was frozen in place dread coiling in her gut.

Quietly, the music masking her noise, Stella went to the window and opened it. The door knob was jiggling. It was a good thing Stella had locked it, pay back on Sakura for acting strange and abandoning her. It bought her precious seconds that she needed for escape.

The door burst open slamming against a wall. One annoyed, single Sissy Delmas, principal of Kadic High Academy entered the room. She was panting; her eyes were glazed over except for a pulsing symbol that was her pupil. Enraged she howled; she had burst into an empty room.

On Lyoko . . .

A crab was firing a barrage of bolts at Sakura, and all that kept her from being de-virtualized from where she stood frozen to the ground, courtesy of a block, was her two daggers crossed in a defensive "X" in front of her chest.

She was wearing a black fighting outfit (Star Wars Episode 1: Queen Amidala's Decoy Swamp defense look) with her belt of many weapons: a whip, two fans, morning stars, and senbon needles. All were inaccessible due to said crab's assault.

Grunting Riley, wearing a Jedi Knight Outfit minus the cape, dispatched of a kankerlot by slicing it in half with his lightsaber. (The Stern kids were big and still are on Star Wars.) Concentrating on his sister, Riley closed his grey eyes, and raised his hand. The crab was shocked to be lifted into the air and tossed into a pouncing Drew. Drew sliced and diced the crab's eye courtesy of his wolverine claws (like in X-Men, retractable claws. He can shoot laser arrows too).

Smiling, Sakura sheathed her daggers and threw a morning star at a block. It hit the eye dead center. She shook her head, causing her black braid to waggle (Ty Lee kind of braid on the top of the head).

"How are you doing, Dante?" Drew called down to the black and white jumpsuit clad XANA point 2.

Red lightning shot from his fingertips and hit the tarantula in the eye making it explode. He didn't answer; he just looked down toward the trio near the mesa.

"Our ends clear; go on in!" yelled Drew.

Nodding an affirmative, Dante, XANA point 2, X .2., marched into the tower. The halo surrounding the tower changed from the blood red it was to the neutral blue hue. The trio outside the tower was transported back to Earth.

When entering the tower Dante had done the usual. He had gone to the center of the platform and waited to be taken up. When the next level and the screen appeared, he had placed his hand on the keyboard.

Name: _The Prodigy_

Code: _l-y-o-k-o_

The tower shut down and Dante materialized his friends and himself back to earth.

"That was too easy," Sakura said. The group: Dante, Riley, Drew, and Sakura were on their way back to school via the sewer. The group had found a manhole in the woods near Kadic High Academy.

"Can't you be happy it was simple with no strings attached?" Drew asked his face incredulous. They had a similar 'discussion' numerous times. "Do there have to be strings attached to every attack XANA does?"

"Yes!"

Drew groaned and slapped his forehead.

Sakura persisted. "Listen to me! This is the –fifth?" she asked Riley

"Fifth," Dante and Riley chorused.

Sakura continued right were she left off. "This is the fifth time we have had an attack with no noticeable effects or real attacks. A tower is activated, and we deactivate it, period. No strange occurrences.'

"Isn't that a good thing?" Drew argued back.

The group was out of the sewers and walking through the forest towards the football fields.

"Yeah, but I'm just saying that there is something amiss here that we aren't seeing."

"You're paranoid!" yelled Drew.

A snort was heard overhead. Some rustling came from the tree branches above the group, and Stella jumped down to land gracefully in a crouch in front of the stunned group.

Stella was laughing. "That's new. I've heard you being called everything from arrogant to zealous, but I have never heard you being accused of paranoia, Sis."

Stella just laughed again. Sakura stared at her in shock.

"What are you doing here?"

An amused expression spread across Stella's face accompanied with a wry grin. "Hiding. Where's the pizza?"

"Uh," Sakura was at a loss of words. Pizza? Oh yeah her "phone call" to get her out of the room. Sakura gave a desperate help me look to her friends.

"Wrong number." Riley put in. Sakura mouthed him a silent thank you.

Thankfully after hearing the word pizza Drew had perked up like a puppy seeing its beloved chew toy.

"Pizza?" Drew asked perking up considerably, "Are there anchovies on it?"

Sakura shot him a disgusted look, and the subject of talk turned to pizza and all its toppings do's and don'ts.

Not realizing it, Stella fell in step with Dante behind the lively trio.

"What were you hiding from?"

Surprised Stella looked at Dante in amazement. He didn't strike her as the talkative type. And why bring up that topic? "From someone who doesn't like my taste in music, have we met?"

Dante shook his head. Stella sensed he wasn't going to say anything else. "Oh, well I'm Riley and Sakura's sister, Estella, but everyone calls me Stella."

She wasn't expecting a reply, but when Dante spoke she hear him and smiled with the pleasure that she knew his name.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

**Chapter 3:**

At Stella's room:

"It looks like a hurricane came through, had a violent fling with a tornado, and left its kids name Chaos and Confusion behind." Drew said in utter shock and amazement at the huge mess in Stella's room. The stereo was off, and Stella and Sakura were working assiduously to clean-up the room.

"Do you mind if I take pictures?" he asked Stella.

Sakura smacked the blonde upside the head.

"HEY! What did I say?"

Riley grinned and grabbed Drew into a headlock. "Don't touch the cleanliness issue with the ladies. It always ends in disaster."

Dante was setting up Stella's computer system on a cleared off desk. Sakura however wasn't happy with the mess in Stella's room. Unfortunately, Drew's description of her room was quite adequate and some would venture to say an understatement of the condition of the room's cleanliness. Sakura, unfortunately, took the dirty room as a direct insult.

"What did you do while I was gone? Throw everything in the air and hope they would settle in the right place?"

Stella grinned sheepishly at Sakura, "Maybe?" Sakura shook her head in disgust and resumed folding and shelving Stella's clothes.

Stella quietly reflected on her afternoon. After returning to her room, the guys unloaded and brought up the rest of her things. Then they ate pizza without the anchovies, much to Drew's disappointment. They had all decided to go to the trashcan together, without Stella.

To Stella's utter amazement most of the inanimate objects in the room hovered a foot off the floor only to crash back down to the floor. Then the printer threw up its papers into the air with Stella watching them flutter back to rest on her floor; the printer wasn't even plugged in.

Stella had long ago accepted she wasn't sane. Getting amnesia could do that to a person.

"When does school start?"

"Monday," groaned Drew who had to duck to miss an incoming elbow from Sakura, "what was that for?"

Sakura grinned devilishly at him, "Ping Pong with me and the creepy crawlers."

"Crawlers?" piped up Stella. Crawlers? That seemed familiar somehow, like the feeling in her room earlier when her printer threw up.

"Code for a VR game we play," Dante spoke up from the computer.

"Can I play?" Stella asked.

"NO." chorused everyone in the room.

"Please?"

"No."

"And why ever not?" Stella asked.

Sakura shot Drew a warning look not to say anything. Stella had that edge in her voice when she felt she was being slighted. The tone of her voice was at best hostile, her expression just starting to show her frustration. It would be best for all if Riley talked her out of it.

"It's a very old game; 41 years old at least give or take half a decade. It is not as sophisticated as today's game. You only have two senses out of five, and it has bugs."

Stella sat fixated in her spot just staring off into the distance her eyes as glazed over as doughnuts. The stack of papers in her hand dropped from her fingers to the floor.

"What's it called?" she asked slowly and quietly the strange look never leaving her eyes.

Silence reigned in the room. No one spoke whether because they didn't have an answer or were unsure of the wisdom of speaking it.

Stella snapped out of whatever trance that had drawn her away from reality. She smiled softly then looked bewildered around the awkwardly silent room.

"What?" she asked confusion etched across her face.

"We were talking about VR games, and you spaced out." Drew answered her. He looked confused now. How could Stella forget what had occurred mere seconds ago?

"Really? I hear they're going to build a VR arcade in town sometime in the next year or so. It's supposed to bring the worlds of virtual reality to life."

The conversation drifted back to safer waters, and Stella had only a vague remembrance of the conversation afterwards.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

**Chapter 4:**

"Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end," Drew's teacher, the one the only Mrs. Herst, intoned.

Drew had withdrawn all his attention earlier; his eyes were as glazed as doughnuts. A ruler slammed down onto his desk jolting Drew back to the present.

"Mr. Della Robia, would you please pay attention!"

"Yes ma'am."

"What did I just say?"

"Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, but some good things start, science for instance. Our first topics we will be discussing are over cells and their functions. Mr. Della Robia, would you please pay attention. What did I just say?" The words left his mouth in a rush as he recited word for word what Mrs. Herst had said. Looking disappointed, and mumbling about smart alecks, Mrs. Herst continued with her lecture

Drew relaxed and was starting to daydream about slicing and dicing sushi when he was hit in the back of the head with a paper football.

Opening it up he saw written inside: _How did you do that?_

Smirking, Drew wrote his answer and tossed it back to Sakura. Sakura was in the sophomore science class even though she was a fish; she was that smart. Sakura opened the note then scowled at the back of the blonde's head after reading the answer.

_Osmosis_

Sakura crumpled up the paper into a ball and chunked it at the back of Drew's head. It hit bulls-eye, of course she wasn't a weapon mistress for nothing, but she also drew Mrs. Herst's displeasure on her.

As Mrs. Herst scolded Sakura, Drew smiled and started thinking about sushi again.

"Sushi!" exclaimed Drew, "I love the lunch lady!"

Dante grinned at his friend's unusual enthusiasm of food. Wait, unusual? That wasn't unusual; it was regular. What caused the smile and Dante's amusement was Sakura's tale behind it. Apparently the whole sushi thing started back with Mrs. Herst.

His eyes flitted across the table to the girls. His eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch at what he saw.

"Sakura."

"Hm?"

She looked up from her food, and her notebook. She called it an RP, role playing where two or more people would create a story and post their sections to develop the story as it went. The current RP between Stella and Sakura was about a band class and color guard that were trapped inside a virtual reality game with an evil army of aides trying to kill them. In the VR game they had super powers.

Dante nodded toward Stella. Sakura looked at her brunette brown eyed sister taking in her situation. She was asleep with her food in her hair. Her face was in her mashed potatoes.

O

"Stella," Sakura prodded her with a plastic cafeteria fork. "Stella," she called softly again.

Stella gave no response. She was asleep; her hair was mixed with her mashed potatoes. She and the world were no longer on speaking terms.

"You know we could go to the band hall and borrow the percussionist's crash cymbals." Drew spoke up, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"No," a sleepy-eyed Stella glared at him before straightening. Stella briefly looked at her untouched food and grimaced when she found the potatoes in her hair.

"Have you been sleeping well? This is the fifth time this week you've gotten food in your hair because you've been sleeping. You are drifting off in class, and you aren't eating. What is wrong?" Bam, interrogation master Sakura had come to town.

Stella sighed, and her sight roved over the lunch room.

Dante, the quiet computer expert, was observing the cafeteria and all the lunch commotion. He was a genius with anything mechanical or computer related. It was as if he understood and communicated with the machines.

Riley was being the patient soul he was born by standing in the lunch line-the really long infinite lunch line. Of her group of friends Riley and Dante shifted leadership. No, that wasn't right. Riley led with Sakura and Drew vying for second in command. Dante was an independent faction. He hung with the group but made his own decisions.

Drew was fun loving, but most mistook that fact for a lack of maturity and seriousness. That wasn't true. In fact, if Dante wasn't around when Stella needed help with school or her computer she went to Drew who was more then happy to help.

Sakura had brown hair the exact shade as Stella's own. She had slightly Asian features with brown eyes. It gave her an exotic appearance. She was Stella's champion, big sis, defender, and best friend all rolled into one. She excelled with science and math, but music was not lost on her (more then once she would join Stella for a karaoke par-tay to the below floor's horror. There was no sleep when they sang). Sakura had a tendency to cross swords with a certain blonde haired goofball, reasons unknown.

In the cafeteria though, oddly enough, six guys near the door, percussionists, were gathered around a practice pad and were drumming it out.

Stella picked at her food refusing to answer. Riley, finally out of the horrendous lunch line that would inspire horror movies, sat down next to Drew diagonal right from Stella. Sensing something amiss he followed Dante's and Drew's line of vision straight to Stella.

Stella stood up and pushed her tray away, "I'm going to wash my hair."

With that Stella exited the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" Riley asked

"Perhaps the accident," Sakura said.

Understanding flickered across Riley's features.

Sakura stood, "I'm going to talk to her,"

She didn't get farther then a few feet before all the food utensils and other things besides pieces of furniture (cafeteria tables) floated a foot off the surface they were previously lying on, hung suspended in the air, and dropped. Sakura looked at Dante, or more specifically his eyes. They were blood red.

There was an intense look now about him as he picked up a pair of black sunglasses from beside his tray and slid them up the bridge of his nose.

"Let's go," he said quietly and left the cafeteria. Drew and Riley stood and followed him out the door. Sakura hesitated torn between two needs, Stella's and the world's. Reluctantly, she followed her brother and friends down the path that led to the factory and Lyoko.

Z. . . Z. . . Z. . . Z. . . Z. . . Z. . .

Stella was oblivious to the drama going on. The screams of the students grasping to tree branches to keep from being pulled into space just passed over her. She was in her own little world asleep. And she dreamed.

Strange dreams were hers. Round spheres rolling along paths lined with tall trees chased Stella. No, not her, but Sakura. No, the girl looked like Sakura, but no, yes, no. The scene was changing.

Instead of a warrior weapons mistress being chased by a mega tank, a geisha was running into and slamming into the split metal sphere. The sphere was firing a 180 degree beam. By slamming into it, she had knocked off its aim allowing her, no, a fairy or elvish looking girl to run safely to a tall black and white tube that was surrounded by a red aura.

No, a scene shift. The weapons mistress was falling, no the geisha was, the tank with her, into a sea towards death. She's dead! No! NOT SAKURA!

No, Stella's dream changed into a split screen; what had happened then and what was happening now. Then the geisha grasped onto and hung from the edge until she lost her grip, right when a yellow samurai tried to grab her hand. Now Sakura fell down that same hole, but was scooped up by a purple cat on a purple hover board. A black hover board came down from the skies above and a black haired boy with red eyes dismounted coolly walking into the tower. The aurora shifted from red to a neutral blue. A piercing light struck her dreams and dragged her back, way back to before and into sleep's nothingness until . . .

". . . Borrow the percussionists' crash cymbals." Came an annoying voice from a certain hazel eyed blond sitting across from her. The voice dragged Stella back to the present or at least to conciousness.

"No."

Déjà vu much. Stella's eyes briefly looked at her food. She didn't need to be told she had food in her hair, but she checked anyway and grimaced at its presence in her brown locks. _'I'm going to take another shower and avoid stall two.'_

"Here, how about I grab some shampoo, and we rinse your hair in the kitchen? Mrs. Krumble (the cafeteria lady) will let us."

This was unexpected. Stella looked around. Dante was looking at the cafeteria, Riley was in the lunch line (would he ever learn?), Drew was giving his sushi a dreamy look, and the percussionists were still hacking away.

Stella shrugged her shoulders, "Sure."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**Chapter 5:**

"Do you understand?" Dante asked Stella.

She stared forlornly at him, to his work, to her homework, and gave up trying to understand her homework.

It was late, nearly midnight. Stella couldn't sleep, so she tried to work on homework. The only problem with that plan was she didn't understand her homework. Due to her lack of understanding she turned to Dante. Surprisingly, he was up and willing to help her, again. They were currently in the lounge on the bottom floor of the dorm house. Principal Delmas was keeping an eye on them muttering about too much caffeine and overtime.

Stella blinked at Dante helplessly. He closed her geometry book.

"Go to bed."

Stella was too tired to argue, or to think. She gathered up her belongings and trudged numbly toward the girl's side of the boarding area. Back in her room, Stella got into bed, and briefly reflected.

She didn't want to go to sleep. At night she had these nightmares. It kept her from sleeping, so one night she went down to the lounge to do homework. Surprisingly, Dante was there working on a laptop. She had blinked at him and asked for help with her homework. He had agreed.

Also, oddly, there was a teacher there too, so they could meet. The study session had ended when Dante had told her to go to bed.

It had become a habit. She would wake up gasping from a nightmare with a strange design/ symbol piercing her dreams. She would go to the lounge to work on homework to keep her from re-dreaming the nightmare. Dante would always be there. They would work until he said to her, "Go to bed." When she went to sleep after that, the nightmares would leave her alone.

Except for now, when she dreamed the chase dreams. She would be fine at first looking around a room doing some irrelevant dream task. The she would feel a change come into the environment around her.

Not seeing but sensing the threat behind her, Stella would as calmly as possible look for a place to hide. Depending on the dream her hiding spot was not intruded upon as if a sentinel was guarding her from the shadow.

In other dreams she couldn't find said protector or they couldn't find her. In those dreams she would be chased, blind and sobbing with terror rushing through her veins and ruling her decisions. She could see nothing but the darkness she was trying to escape. Because of her blindness she would run into things. The chase would continue until either she awoke gasping, glad to have escaped the terror, or the dream shifted.

Depending on the time of night or her bravery, Stella would either go back to sleep or go down to find Dante in the lounge ready to help her with her homework.

Only once in those chase dreams during the chase had her sentinel found her. At first it was just one person, but more joined by one, two, no three others. Her dream had shifted after that, and she awoke in the morning feeling exhausted like she always felt after a chase dream, but surprisingly happy.

Another varying feature in her dreams was the setting. Whether it was a forest, mountainous region, ice central or a desert all shifted in her dreams. Then there was the alien center region connected to the above four. It was a blue, cold sphere, but in its center Stella felt a calling of something that agreed with her.

But that was not the case now. Closing her eyes, cocooned in a warm nest of sheets, Stella didn't remember when sleeps nothingness came and overtook her. All she remembered was the start of another chase dream


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

**Chapter 6:**

The world was frozen in time. Time had stopped or she was removed from it. Nothing around her moved besides her. The world had lost its color. It was black and white with shades of gray.

Stella was standing in the center of her room dressed only in her bed clothes, soccer shorts and a cotton white shirt that reach her mid thighs. From the deepest shadows in her room darkness gathered and manifested itself into a dark pulsing thing.

Stella turned tail and ran for all she was worth. Out the door and down the hall. The thing gave chase.

Terror overcame her. **I ****hate** these dreams! Stella was running down the hall toward the lounge.

It was empty, but behind her the thing had a more definite shape, humanoid. Outside and into the woods. Dodging among the trees, running being chased, hunted, herded.

Another shape she glimpsed running through the trees. On her left and on her right. She had three of those things chasing her, with the pulsing symbol that haunted her dreams for eyes, and sharp gleaming metallic jagged teeth. Its body was made of wires.

Please wake up. She pleaded and petitioned with herself with God. Please let me wake up!

HELP!

(O)

A figure illuminated by the moonlight shining down through his dorm window on the bed where he lay stirred pulled from his dark dreams by a call.

The call resonated with him and within him. Like the words Ms. Clavel (You know from Madeleine) had uttered upon waking, he to thought and felt as he opened his blood red eyes.

Something is not right.

o

Stella was surrounded by the things that flickered and pulsed; those ropy grey humanoid things.

She was deep inside the forest, farther in then she had ever dared to go before. She had run until she was at a four way intersection of paths. Now before her, behind her, and on either side of her were her pursuers.

That's right she had four of those despicable things chasing her.

Why haven't I woken up? Unless . . . NO!

Stella shook even the shadow of the beginning of that thought from her. This was a dream. A nightmare. This couldn't be real.

But it is, whispered a small part of her. Stella ignored it; she had to worry about those things that had started to advance on her.

She tensed and ran between two of them. It reached out to block her, to touch her, but she pivoted and wheeled out of its touch . . . right into a tree.

Ow.

A phone rang its piercing shrill ring in Drew's ear. He groaned being unpleasantly drawn from the comfort of sleep slightly acknowledging he could get up now if he wanted, but he could more easily go back to sleep. Tough decision.

He was almost encased in sleep's pleasing nothingness when he heard a duel of fates theme go off followed by his normal ring tone.

He groaned and fumbled around for his phone and his alarm went off shrieking shrilly in the other ear.

"AH!" Drew shot up into a vertical position. Sometimes he really didn't appreciate how one of his closest friends could make machines do his bidding. Grabbing his cell phone he looked at the lit screen.

On it was a simple text message of four letters and a symbol, but that knocked all the grumpiness out of him and let complete seriousness become his persona.

Drew grabbed his pillow and chunked it at his roommate, Riley. When Riley sleepily woke up protesting intrusion on his sleep it took one word from Drew to get him ready to go.

XANA.

X – X

The four things flickered and pulsed satisfactorily, if that was possible for those things to feel emotions. If they had they would be grinning like the Grinch with malicious pleasure as a fifth chaser, their leader, carried their unconscious prey.

It was her; time had changed her, but she couldn't hide forever. She was important. She needed to be destroyed, but first crippled because what is wounded is all the more easily killed. She was too important to let live because she was the key, the key to the destruction of XANA.

The four flanked their leader as they ran at impossible speeds.

The key must be destroyed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

**Chapter 7:**

Sakura Stern, Sakura Isabella Stern. Currently she had brown hair. She was never really satisfied with her hair color or style. It could be blonde one week, green the next or streaked with purple depending entirely on her mood.

Drew, who had always taken great pleasure in teasing her about her hair color, and let's not even start about the hair styles, was the most surprised with the tame choice of brown.

Sakura was also known to have her mother's temper, and didn't mind in the least bit about unleashing it on unsuspecting people who try to wake her up in the middle of the night, like Drew had.

Poor Drew.

Drew came running out her Sakura's dorm room (really risky business sneaking into the girls' dorm at this time of night) followed by many shoes and stuffed animals.

"She's up." He told the silent Dante leaning casually against the wall and the glowering big bro. "OW!"

"Let's go," grumbled a sleepy, but dressed, Sakura. The four left the school undetected and headed to the factory.

Stella was trapped in a state of darkness, caught between returning to sleep, and being awake enough to pay some attention to her surroundings. What had brought her to that state was the whirring of an elevator. It stopped, the doors opened and closed and went down another level.

The doors opened again. She was dropped; her body banged against a cold surface. She woke up completely when she heard the doors close.

Stella sat up from her fetal position and found herself in a yellow cylindrical container. She sprung to her feet and gasped as her light headedness brought on a wave of nausea.

She gasped; a portion of one of the grey things essence that had chased her attached onto her rendering her numb of the air that blew past her face, and a shining circle that had to be white moved around her body up and down. She was enveloped in a blinding light.

Up on the screen of the super computer a big red exclamation point appeared over Stella's profile.

Sakura huffed and panted as she kept pace with her brother and Drew. One thing she couldn't complain about the XANA attacks was the run to the factory kept her in shape. Was it a bad thing to feel grateful to an evil computer program that wanted to take over the world?

In the elevator she doubled over, hands on her knees panting before she straightened and put her hands behind her head and breathed deeply through her nose.

The elevator opened and revealed that in the control room were four of XANA's goons.

"Guys, go to the scanners; see if they are correctly set up and wait to be transferred." Dante said calmly.

Sakura knew for a fact if Dante had not been with them then the four goons would be making mince meat of her, her brother, and the osmosis inclined blonde.

She nodded mutely and pressed the down button.

O O O O

"Dante, the scanners were messered up, at least one of them. The rest are fine." Sakura reported from the scanner room.

"Use the two that are working. I'll deal with the company. Drew, can you stay behind and monitor the supercomputer? You won't be troubled."

"I'll probably be mince meat, but, yeah, I'm on my way up."

(o)(o)

Stella had landed in a crouch. It was more out of instinct, muscle memory, then anything, but it caused Stella to marvel at it before she realized she was in the land of her dreams.

Lyoko

The word had floated into her mind. She'd read in one of the many articles about memory loss if you get a strong enough stimulus the memories would return. Well, some had returned filling in the spaces, but there were still some very big holes left.

She had had an unexpected welcoming committee; it was then she had first felt the wrongness. Everything was missing its color, and there was no sound.

I'm breathing, so it means there is air for the sound waves to travel through, so something must be wrong with me.

Some pieces, very few, a small amount of memories had been retained. Lyoko was familiar to Stella as if she had been there before not just a visitation or viewing of events via her dreams. It was familiar in the way that was almost as if she had been there numerous times before. _Only I don't remember any of those times if I have been here before._

Stella's welcoming committee consisted of cubes. They had appeared out of the mist that this mountainous region always had catching her totally by surprise. When they had first attacked, once again instinct took over, and she had flung her arms up in front of her as if she half expected an invisible force field to protect her from the cubes lasers.

She had been hit; then she ran.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

Dante tapped away at the supercomputer. The polymorphic clones, one of his father's means of carrying out work on earth, let him be. They didn't attack him, threaten him or his friends. It was against their orders. They were not to hurt the prodigy or the companions he brought with him. Their work was done. Bring the key to Lyoko, so it will be destroyed. They had, end of story.

Dante virtualized Sakura and Riley, and a minimized computer screen popped up showing the error signal. He frowned; what did this mean?

"They aren't going to attack are they?" asked Drew, who was keeping a close watch on the motionless doppelgangers.

"No," he got up and let Drew take his place in the chair and gave himself a mental note to work on this after the tower was deactivated.

On Lyoko . . .

"The tower is northeast within running distance." Drew told the trio.

Sakura, who had been juggling her two daggers, neatly caught and sheathed them. She went over and affectionately kicked her brother. "We have a location."

The mountain region, as always, was foggy, but this level was clear. Clear of the mist, fog and oh yeah, suspiciously clear of monsters.

Riley rose from his sitting position, "I expected more of a welcoming committee. What do you think?"

Dante's eyes were blood red gazing across the mountain region. He strode toward the tower.

"I sense a group of monsters farther south of us, closer to the way tower."

The trio broke into a run toward the activated tower.

"Don't you find that odd? Four of XANA's goons on earth just standing in the control room, only one of the scanners was dismantled which we put back together no problem, and now no resistance of any kind or defense for the activated tower.

"I don't know what XANA is planning, but I am going to find out." Was all Dante said before he entered the tower.

Back on Earth . . .

"Whoa!" exclaimed Drew.

A profile had popped up on the screen, a character profile.

It wasn't Drew's, Sakura's, Riley's or Dante's profile. It wasn't any of the past Lyoko Warriors who had fought the fight for Lyoko and earth against XANA, namely their parents.

The particular profile of this person was located on a map of the mountain region, and this person had quite a following of monsters after them: Five hornets, four blocks, three mega tanks, two tarantulas, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Needless to say that particular person was extremely low on life points. Drew had a sinking feeling that if they received one more hit they would be gone, and they wouldn't be returning to earth.

"Stella, no."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

Still nothing but sight. No color, no noise, no feeling, no smell, and no touch except for the occasional jolt when a laser hit.

Stella ran and had jumped twice. She didn't know what she was looking for, a big neon sign saying you'll be safe here. She had quite a posse following her.

Air attacks, slow land attacks, rolling spheres that moved extremely swiftly across the ground (she had managed to evade all their attacks. Something told her she wouldn't be able to survive one of their hits or another one for that matter), and one fast firing member.

_Please, shelter, please someone help. Please help. Help, help, help_. Those were Stella's thoughts: Help and run.

Then she saw it. It was bright and beautiful. Beautifully clear lacking that feeling that caused Stella to ignore the other towers; it was sanctuary.

One catch, a guard, a nasty looking one at, that was right in front of the tower. It looked like the ugly masked brown quadruple that went biped when shooting at her. _I'm dead._

_Please, save me._

Stella ran straight at the thing. It roared and went down on a knee raising its arm to fire the laser that would end her life. It stopped and swiveled as if it heard something. All the monsters adorned with the symbol that haunted her nightmares stopped.

Stella didn't care. She slid, like in baseball, straight into home; into sanctuary; into the tower.

Shortly after Stella entered the tower the reason for the monsters lapse in attention and duty was this; the Calvary had arrived. Coming in on the overbike, overwing, and on an onyx overboard were Stella's saviors.

A mega tank open and prepared to fire was stopped when a dagger slammed into the eye of its target. A jump and the dagger was retracted by an unseen force and two fans cut through two blocks. A morning star followed by another caused the explosion of the tarantula barring the entrance to the tower.

The dagger wielded by an unseen force speared the two remaining blocks, and a lightsaber took out a mega tank while an unseen hand plucked the remaining mega tank off the ground and dropped it neatly into the digital sea.

Five homing balls of energy shot through the eyes of the hornet air force, and the last tarantula was shot through by a red burst of electricity.

The news that Stella was on Lyoko and had 14 monsters chasing her had caused all present Lyoko warriors and Dante to board the vehicles Drew had materialized (Dante had made his own), and to leave the deactivated tower to rescue Stella.

"I'm looking at her profile, and it looks like, whoa, XANA's been busy. I'm not sure what entirely is wrong, but it looks like she's been bugged, and the bugs are affecting everything: visual, audio, perception."

Sakura took a dagger, spun around, and threw it into a rock. "That's what he's been doing! XANA's been messing with Stella this whole time!" Sakura cried angrily.

Riley, his eyes dark like a thunderstorm, punched a rock. Sakura sighed, took a deep breath, and regained control over her anger.

"I'm going in to check on her." She announced to the party. Dante and Riley followed her inside.

Inside the tower Stella was huddled on the main platform knees pulled up to her chest. Sakura stopped in her tracks shocked at Stella's appearance. Stella was lacking color. She was black and white and gray.

Her hair was jet black, her skin the purest white, the grays of varying shades and occasionally silver made the rest of her separated from color. Stella's eyes were silver. She had pointed fairy ears, and her hair was pulled back with a gray headband. Her hair cascaded down her back in curling ringlets. Her clothes: a top that was a deep shade of grey, long sleeves, the hem of her shirt followed the outline of her ribs. Her pants started at her waist and went to the ends of her ankles. Her midriff was covered with a wispy silver material, and her shoes were ballet slippers.

"Stella!" Sakura cried and enveloped Stella in a hug. Stella jumped startled at the sudden appearance of her friend. Disengaging from Stella out of Sakura's mouth poured a torrent of questions.

"What happened? How did you get here?"

Stella was oblivious to it all. Yes, she saw her friend, but she couldn't hear her.

"I can't hear you." Stella tried to tell her.

Sakura couldn't hear anything Stella said. Her lips were moving, but it was if someone had clicked on the mute button without the text.

"What's wrong with her?" Sakura asked beginning to panic. Dante coolly studied the girl devoid of color.

"XANA messed her profile, adding viruses or bugs. I'm guessing one of those bugs targeted her audio. She's deaf and dumb."

Stella jumped. She got up and rushed over and placed a hand on Dante's shoulder. "I can _hear_ you!"

With that contact Dante could hear her too. Eying her carefully and removing her hand to place on Riley's and Sakura's shoulders her answered, "Remember the conversation where we discussed crawlers and old virtual reality games?"

Stella nodded.

"You asked what the name was. Stella, welcome to Lyoko."


	10. Chapter 10

**5-19-10 (a/n): Well this is going to mark the official return of my attention to RMP. I published four years ago, and wow has my writing come a long way. So I'm going to go through RMP and revise and edit its chapters. I'm already an eigth of the way done!**

**Chapter 10:**

Back on Earth

Stella, emerging from the tower only after many persuasive speeches from Riley and Sakura, let Dante materialize to earth, so he could prepare to materialize her which ultimately meant examining her profile.

Her card was a mess. The audio receivers and broadcasters were on the flux. She could only communicate with Riley or Sakura through direct contact with them or their weapons.

Dante hypothesized that she could communicate freely with him because he was XANA's successor, XANA 2.0. His rebellion against his dad brought him fighting his father side by side with the second generation of Lyoko Warriors. He still had all powers and keys bestowed upon him by his dad: energy wielding, immunity to monsters, and Code Lyoko (something his father had drained from Aelita). He was fluent with machines and could get his way with them (his computer system—like he needed one or a calculator—never crashed or received nasty viruses. Neither did the ones he set up). He always knew when a tower was active (his eyes turned blood red. They also changed color when he was angry). Dante knew exactly what monsters were on Lyoko and where, and the same applied for the tower. He was the best qualified person to look at Stella's malfunctioning, tricked out profile courtesy of XANA.

"This had my dad's handiwork all over it." He spoke to the family on Lyoko via the microphone. Stella was sitting next to Riley barely touching his boot and holding Sakura's whip.

"I'm going to attempt to materialize her via a tower. Oh, and if you come back to Lyoko, Stella, don't lose all your life points. You'll die. All thanks to the virus you have."

"She's not coming back." Riley said firmly.

"Absolutely not. I say we pretend this never happened. She is not coming back." Sakura vocalized in complete agreement with her brother.

"Why not?" Stella asked.

Sakura started to turn to make a sharp retort, but her eyes softened when she saw Stella's inquisitive gaze.

"It's too dangerous. We don't want you involved."

"I'm already involved," Stella argued. "This grey thing chased me out of my room to the woods where it and some buddies of its tried to catch me, or kill me." Stella added almost as if it was an after thought.

"The tower is ready for the return," Dante's voice broke through the sudden silence. Stella stood and dropped the whip, effectively breaking off contact with Riley and Sakura.

"So . . . what do I do?"

"Enter the tower and walk to the center of the platform. I'll do the rest from here."

Phasing through the tower Stella walked toward the center of the platform. With each progressive step the rings lit up as she stepped on them. After stopping in the very center surprise overtook Stella as a gentle tugging lifted her into the air, and then the walls came alive. Leaving their spots the boxes on the walls started rapidly circling her until she left.

Four anxious faces peered at the middle scanner. Three actually; Dante had his usual calm expression in place.

The scanner hummed to life, and two breathes drew together in unison. Sakura, standing between her brother and Drew, grabbed both of their hands and proceeded to squeeze the life out of their appendages. Worry eloquently etched across her face she bit her lip and waited.

The scanner slid open, and gas wafted out. As the gas dispersed Stella was revealed curled in upon herself with one arm covering her eyes.

Dante moved first crouching down beside her and felt her neck for a pulse. Reaching into his back pocket, Dante pulled out his sunglasses, moved Stella's arm, and slid them in place over her eyes. Standing he walked toward the elevator.

"She's fine. When she comes to bring her to the control room. We need to explain to her exactly what she was dragged into." The elevator closed.

XoX XoX

It was over. Her restored senses assaulted Stella with sensations. The sound of hissing gas released from the cylindrical tube she was in; footsteps grew louder and drew closer. They stopped, and Stella felt a slight pressure pressured against her neck against her pulse point. A rustling sound followed, and the same mysterious someone moved the arm shrouding her eyes and slid something onto her face. A voice, a closing snick, and multiple voices dragged her out of her rest and closer to consciousness.

"We're going to tell her?" shrieked a frantic female voice. Sakura.

"We don't have a choice. If what she said is true, then they attacked her." Riley, the voice of reason.

"We don't even know what happened. We don't have the full story." Sakura again.

Stella cautiously cracked open an eye and winced. Color was back. She thanked whoever gave her their sunglasses. Rising on wobbly legs she crossed over to the bickering siblings.

Wobbling Stella's legs threatened to collapse, but she reached the wall first. For a moment she observed the room. Three gold cylinders (scanners cued in a brainwave) with wires attaching to the ceiling stood in the room dominating the landscape. Beside her was an elevator and beside that metal rungs. Curiosity tantalizing her mind, Stella gave into temptation started climbing the metal rungs to see where they led.

No one noticed her departure.


	11. Chapter 11

**5-20-10 (a/n) another mildly revised chapter**

**Chapter 11:**

"Wow,"

Dante smirked in response to Stella's awe stricken voice, and at the oncoming "discussion" that the hum of the elevator's motion heralded. Sure enough the elevator opened, and the now wised up trio entered the control room.

"Stella, tell us how you ended up on Lyoko?" Dante asked in an effort to start the much needed process of deciding what exactly to do with the precocious brunette. Successfully baited, Stella nodded and retold her tale from the start of her chase dream to when Sakura hugged her in the tower.

Drew spoke first. "She was kidnapped, forcibly brought to Lyoko, and intentionally bugged. Why?"

No one answered the rhetorical question: they didn't want to even begin to understand XANA's schemes.

"Seeing how she's been scanned and will remember this event even with a return to the past, shouldn't we let her know the four-one-one?" Drew asked. Dante had retained his calm and relaxed air while Sakura was noticeably stiff and angry. Riley on the other hand looked contemplative. He stepped up to the plate and spoke.

"All in favor say aye." Riley said.

Silence reigned.

"Against?" Riley and Sakura chorused their definite ayes (or, more appropriately, nays) on the matter.

"Undecided?" Three ayes rang out.

Wait, three? Sakura proceeded to stare at Stella who had added in her voice.

"I'm not sure I want to know," Stella began. "But a part of me doesn't want to remain ignorant. Knowledge is power especially if something like this happens again."

Drew had grown fond of the little brunette. She had helped him plan some of his more successful pranks, and she had especially helped with ways to get to Sakura, though those moments of divulging where rare, few and **far** in between.

"She deserves to know who messed with her, and what attacked her, everything."

Sakura looked at the ground. He was right, but Stella shouldn't have to face XANA. "She shouldn't be involved," she maintained stubbornly.  
"She's already involved. XANA kidnapped her." Drew argued back.

"Can this, XANA, influence people's behavior?" Stella asked tentatively.

Dante glanced away from the spectacle of Sakura shaking Drew to Stella, "In a way, yes"

"Oh," came the short reply from Stella.

Riley groaned and rubbed his temples, "We have to tell her now. There's been a precedent."

Sakura reluctantly nodded and scowled at Drew still disatisfied.

Over the next two hours Stella was given a crash course history lesson about Lyoko, Franz Hopper, and XANA.

"The first warriors of Lyoko were you parents," Dante lectured pulling up video pictures from the super calculator. Pictures of the super six appeared of them in their junior high years. Dante clicked and the two pictures of Ulrich Stern and Yumi Ishiyama blew up on the screen, "and their friends Odd Della Robia, Jeremy Belpois the official operator of the super calculator, and Aelita Hopper." He flicked through their pictures.

"Amusingly enough, Aelita, daughter of the creator of Lyoko, the scanners, and the super computer was thought to be an A.I. program. In time the truth was discovered that she was indeed human. Your parents and Drew's Dad escorted Aelita to any tower that XANA had activated, so she could deactivate it. They destroyed whatever monsters that crossed their paths with a few exceptions. XANA learned he could exit Lyoko if he had the keys to Lyoko which Aelita possessed thanks to her father.

"XANA eventually drained Aelita of her keys using one of his monsters, the Schipazoa. Her father restored her lost memories to her which XANA had taken long ago when she first entered Lyoko. Eventually, XANA used her to destroy the four main regions of Lyoko: The desert, mountain, forest and ice sectors. He possessed a new addition to the group, one William Dunbar, and used him to destroy the heart of Lyoko which destroyed Lyoko itself. XANA took over William's body and escaped to the internet.

"In time with the help of Franz Hopper, your parents, trapped and successfully quartered XANA off in his own little corner of the internet where he has remained imprisoned. Well, until about 15 years ago when a hacker found an online challenge to crack a so called impossible code. The hacker succeeded and in the process unleashed XANA onto the world again.

From there XANA kidnapped a newborn baby and used its life force to give Lyoko a new heart and to restore the four sectors. The infant wouldn't have seen earth again if a rebellious young program of XANA's design hadn't taken the infant back to earth.

"XANA bided his time for 13 years until Lyoko was rediscovered by humans again, the second generation of fighters. There were three originally: your siblings, Riley and Sakura, plus another, but the third member moved away. Drew joined at the beginning of last year's school year when XANA targeted him in one of his attacks. We've been fighting him as a group since."

Sakura, Riley, and Drew joined the story now explaining life points, offense, defense, and special powers, the vehicles, return to the past, and the monsters.

"You had quite a posse on you. Those flying bugs are called hornets. They shoot lasers out of their stingers, and can drip poison. Those cubes are blocks. They can fire lasers, ice beams or fire rings. You had three mega tanks on you, the spheres. Watch out for when they open. They fire a nasty 180 degree laser pulse until it either hits something, or they run out of range. And the tarantulas, nasty things, fire lasers rapidly. You'll need to hit them twice to make them go way. They're both fast and powerful."

They explained the bulls eye XANA's eye for hitting to destroy the monsters, deactivating towers, and the codes.

"Code Lyoko's used to deactivate towers. Dante and Aelita can use it. Code Earth is to materialize special cases that don't come back to earth once they lose all their life points, like you. If you lose all your life points, you die. For us that means if we go back to earth in the equivalent to a game over. Code XANA wipes out things, destroys them. Oh yeah, never fall into the digital sea. You'll die. Not being devirtualized to earth death, but die as in never coming back to life, going on to heaven or hell death."

They also explained the towers and the way towers; they told her everything she needed to know about Lyoko, but they kept quiet about Dante's heritage. That was on a need to know basis. Stella didn't need to know, yet.

Head swimming with information, Stella only nodded as they talked and walked her back to her room. Back in her room she was glad it was Friday. She could sleep in tomorrow. With that Stella fell into a wonderfully dreamless sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Revised and edited on 5-22-10**

**Chapter 12:**

Life continued on as it had before. Everything was exactly the same, yet everything wasn't. Nothing had changed. Everything had changed.

Stella watched the students trudging along in the daily grind. She almost wanted to scream, "Run for you lives! The end of the world is coming in the return of this psychopathic demonic computer program which can attack at any moment. RUN!" But she didn't. She finally realized she had changed. After learning about Lyoko she had realized she was a baby learning how to walk for the first time: a joyful experience of independence, but also a painful one.

More and more lately she noticed the IM's and text messages that her siblings and friends received in the classroom, lunch hall, afternoon, or even late at night. She also noticed Dante's changing eyes.

Nightmares visited less frequently now, but when they did come Stella went down to the lounge where Dante seemed to always reside ready to talk, help with homework or simply let her stare stupidly at the table until the verdict came to go to bed.

At first Stella wasn't allowed on Lyoko or even in the sewer system, period. The unspoken rule was that she was to stay, oblivious, to the attack until the furnace tried to explode, the chalk and all writing instruments attacked the students (the forks too), or the evil Spork attack [shudder] clued her in that XANA was attacking. Riley and Sakura insisted on her ignorance on the matter, but all it took was a cool and logical argument to persuade them to at least let her know what was going on. Forewarned is forearmed after all.

Once Stella had her foot in the door she slowly pushed it open and gained ground until Drew and Dante were instructing her on how to materialize and dematerialize people, conduct tower scans, upload the vehicles, and other junk.

Sakura and Riley drew the line at letting Stella go to Lyoko, but Stella was perfectly content with that.

.net.

"Ooh," breathe Stella in complete awe and delight. Tracing the book cover in the display case with admiring eye she drooled. "No way." Her eyes widened, and Sakura, glancing over at her sis was plastered against the window drooling, rolled her eyes.

"No way. No WAY!"

Here it comes . . .

"FRUITS BASKET 16 is out! WOOOO!"

Sakura walked over to the ecstatic maniac. "You're acting like a fan girl."  
"I AM! Tohru and Ryo forever!" Sakura rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"I wonder how much it costs?" Stella commented and immediately her eyes rested on the display case.

Sakura sighed and thought back. Today was a rare free day on the campus, and Stella and she had obtained a town visit pass. Naturally they went all out for the occasion. They had been window shopping, dared each other to buy make up, and were going to see a movie later.

Stella did a mental tally: Subtract movie money from her total, add tax to the price of the book, compare with what's left, and that would be . . .

"Sakura," called Stella in a voice that triggered all the alarms in Sakura's brain.

"No," came the short answer.

"Puh-lease?" A one syllable word turned into a two syllable word with extra emphasis and length put on the second syllable; she was definitely being hit up for money.

"Nein."

"Aw, come on! You're supposed to be my sister! Sisters share!"

"O-nay."

"What's wrong?" a new voice asked.

Sounding every bit like a whiney seven year old, Stella replied, "Sakura won't share!" She then saw who she was addressing and blushed. It was Riley, Dante . . . and Eric!

"You know what, you're right. I shouldn't frivolously spend my money. Let's leave!" Stella said in a rush, and grabbing Sakura's ponytail she started to haul her off. She would have gotten farther if she hadn't tripped over a box of magazines.

"EEK!" Insert face plant here.

Stella fell and Sakura went with her. Luckily the boys interfered. Riley caught Stella, and Eric caught Sakura. As soon as Sakura looked up and met Eric's blue eyes she too felt a sudden overwhelming urge to leave overcome her.

"Sorry, bye!" Grabbing Stella, Sakura took off down street and shot around the corner running into Drew or, well, Stella did. Drew went down, but Sakura managed to keep Stella aloft.

"Sorry, gotta go, bye!" Stella called back at the dazed blonde.

Joining his friends, leaving his corndog where it landed on the ground, Drew asked the question of the day, "What's with them?"

All he got where two baffled shrugs, and one expressionless black haired teenager's stare.

[oo]

Out on Lyoko in the ice sector a tower's field turns from the neutral blue to an ominous red.

O.O

The guys had wandered into an electronic store when Riley noticed the discreet motion of Dante sliding on his sunglasses onto his face and briefly touch his cell phone.

"Sorry Riley," Dante said as he casually checked the time on his phone, "but Drew and I are tutoring some kids at Kaddic Middle for volunteer hours, and if we want to be there on time we have to leave now."

"That's cool. Have fun," Riley replied with an almost invisible nod in response.

Dante nodded and headed for the exit with Drew tailing him. All proceeded according to plan until the moment when the door locked right when Dante reached out to open it. Dante frowned and his eyebrows pursed together as a mild thoughtful look took over his face indicating obvious mental effort being used in analyzing the situation. In spite the metal bar door rolled across the store front blocking them from the outside door.

On one of the TV screens a red symbol flashed, lingered, and disappeared. Dante turned around when he heard the clicking of nails on tile and a low growl. This wasn't going to go well.

0.0

Sakura and Stella were leaning against trees in the park panting when the cheery tune of the Mario theme began ringing in the air. Stella glanced sideways at Sakura's pocket. Rolling her eyes Sakura dug out her cell and fumbled with the controls until she pulled up her inbox. Stella watched Sakura look at the screen and tense up while a more serious persona took over. Scowling Sakura shoved her phone in her pocket, and Stella grimaced. Sakura only acted that serious when XANA was involved, so she experienced little surprise when Sakura turned to face her and said, "Let's go."

B)

Hours later when the boys escaped their prison, and came to the factory they would find with great surprise the two girls unconscious lying half in, half out of the scanners. But there surprise at their findings wouldn't compare to the surprise they received when they realized that the deactivation of the tower and the end of XANA's attack was not a fluke.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Revised and edited 6-7-2010 after a wonderful day of skating while listening to music and updating itunes.**

**Chapter 13:**

Not being near any sewer shortcuts Sakura and Stella had to take the long way to the factory using whatever means of transport available: namely their feet.

"Wolves!" Sakura called.

"I know. Hasn't XANA played that card already?" Stella called back as the pair dashed down the street.

"He has?" Sakura shouted back and risked a glance over her shoulder

"Yeah," Stella said and hastily stuck out a hand and snagged Sakura's elbow before she face planted on the sidewalk. They skidded around a corner, a pack of wolves two city blocks behind them.

"No way," breathed Sakura her eyes widening at the sight in front of them.

In front of the girls were lions . . . tigers . . . and bears.

"Oh my," Stella said softly frozen in place. Sakura grabbed Stella, and jerked her out of the way of the new predators.

"That's it, I've changed my mind," Sakura said. "You are going where you will be safe, on Lyoko."

"Less talking. More running," puffed Stella as they gained precious seconds before the newest predators gave chase.

So the girls ran.

[Fast forward]

Jaws inches away from closing around Riley's throat, the wolf collapsed as its possessor fled from its body. The barred shop doors opened and the entrance bell gave a soft ding in welcome. Riley heaved the limp wolf off him, and Animal Control rushed in.

Calmly accepting Dante's hand up, Riley said, "We need to get to the factory." Dante gave a slight nod, and the two passed among the frenzied crowds unnoticed. The only haste they showed appeared when they entered the tree line of the nearby woods where they burst into a run for the manhole hidden nearby.

The pair rejoined with Drew in the factory as he climbed down from the rafters.

"Did you crack the deactivating the tower code?" Dante asked grasping at his only option of reasoning for how the tower deactivated:

XANA deactivated it.

The program worked.

Sakura had severed the tower cables from Lyoko and the tower network.

There was no choice D. The first was unlikely, the second just as unlikely, but maybe miracles were real.

"No."

Or not.

Without being told the guys all headed towards the elevator and supercomputer.

[Rewind]

They barely made the elevator. Stella and Sakura had done the worst thing they could think of in order to lose their pursuers. They had run into rush hour traffic and somehow had managed to emerge unscathed, but the bears were . . . gone.

Now pressed against the far wall of the elevator, the girls could see claws beginning to rip through the metal until a yowl of pain ripped through the air as the elevator descended.

"Get a timer going, and don't use the elevator!" Drill Sergeant Sakura ordered as she set the elevator toward the room where the power source of the supercomputer was located.

Stella nodded adrenaline pumping through her veins. She could hear the feral snarls up above as the felines and lupines formed an eerie alliance to take them down. With her "fight or flight" instincts kicking in, Stella pressed several buttons on the counsel, and left the control room via the metal rail ladder. Only after the scanner closed did Stella realized she had no idea how to set a timer or how to input "tower coordinates", or what those were.

_Please let us get there safely,_ she silently prayed as the virtualization process started.

"Aah - oof!" All the air rushed out of Stella's lungs with her jarring landing on the hard, digital ground. She had fallen embarrassingly on her behind. Sakura giggled nearby. Stella scowled at her as she stood up. She had somehow managed to land as ungracefully as she had landed gracefully on her last visit to Lyoko.

Stella's scowl deepened as Sakura's giggles turned to downright uninterrupted laughter.

"It's not funny!" Stella cried defensively.

Sakura took deep breaths trying to stop her laughter; her attempts only made the situation worse.

Stella took the offensive and said, "Oh yes, I'm Miss Perfect who falls off cliffs, and into holes in the forest sector only saved by your boyfriend, (_that_ caused Sakura's eyebrow to twitch) Mr. Happy Feet, otherwise known as Drew."

Sakura was scowling now, "Get in the tower, **now.**"

"No," Stella replied and she crossed her arms and jutted a hip out to the side in a defiant posture.

"Do it, or else," Sakura growled.

"Or else what?" Stella mocked and both proceeded to stand toe to toe glaring daggers into the others eyes. Their hands were on their hips, right hip cocked to the side, perfect mirror images of each other.

Sakura #1 glared at Sakura #2 until the original Sakura gasped and took a step back.

"You look like me . . ." her voice trailed off in astonishment.

"Huh?" Sakura #2 cocked her head to the side. Sakura #1 proceeded to drag Sakura #2 by the arm until they reached the side of the ice trail toward a calm, water mirror.

"Look," the original Sakura (#1) commanded, and Stella did.

She looked, and saw Sakura looking back up at her, and another Sakura, the real one, beside her. The real Sakura was tapping her foot impatiently.

"How did I . . .?" Stella (still the mirror image of Sakura) began and lifted her hand while watching the reflection. It lifted its hand also. Stella touched her face. The other Sakura, her, did also.

"How do I change back?" she asked a desperate air interweaving inside her voice.

"I don't know," Sakura said while shrugging her shoulders. "What did you do to mimic me?"

"I don't know," Stella said her shoulders hunching up defensively. "I-I just started acting like you to, you know, emphasize my point."

"Then act like yourself," Sakura said nonchalantly like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Stella snorted. "Easy for you to say. I don't even know what I act like. Hello, girl with amnesia here."

If possible Sakura flushed. "Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot." Something dawned on Sakura then. "Hey."

"What?"

"You have color, and we can communicate!"

"Really?"

Shooting Stella and 'aren't you stupid' look Sakura eyeballed her look alike.

"You have color. Well, except for your eyes. They're still swirling pools of mercury."

"Well, everything's black and white for me," Stella said and then held out a hand to examine closely. "I'm as colorblind as a dog."

Sakura nodded reassign the situation and recalling her early intentions."Let's find a tower for you to hang out in."

Stella nodded her brow furrowing deep in thought. Sakura started walking down the trail toward the mountains of ice, and Stella trotted after her, unknowingly being watched by an unseen mechanical eye; it saw the trotting warrior's replica (#2) shimmer and change into a different, newer shape that actually wasn't that unfamiliar.

Lyoko wasn't new to that form.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

The wolf, a midnight black, stared eye to eye with Dante, a feral growl rumbling deep down from its hairy chest.

Dante had at the wolf's first appearance assumed an undisputed authority dispatching Drew and Eric to find an unblocked exit, and Riley to find a phone to call animal control. He wasn't planning on letting the AC get at the wolf until the tower was deactivated which would be when either he got to Lyoko or if Drew could get out and try Plan B. B for Backup.

Now, he was staring the wolf down knowing the moment one looked away the wolf would attack. This stare war was a war of dominance. Who would be declared alpha male, the puppet of XANA or XANA's successor. They both had iron wills. They were going to be here a **long** time.

#1. #2. #1. #2 . . . #3!

"What – kind (pant) of weapons (wheeze) do you (pant) have?" Stella asked behind the rigid Sakura. The continuous 100 meter dash/sprint was over!

Sakura materialized a dagger in each hand, and pulled another from a hidden leg sheath. When she spoke the detached tone alerted Stella to the danger, "Stella, hide and try to find a tower."

Stella slowly peered around Sakura to see a battalion of the strangest looking creatures in her life.

"Okay." With turning tail and running, Stella disappeared.

Sakura assuming a fighting stance stared down the new monsters. She'd heard of them from Dante, the place was practically crawling with them, sicklets, the mini snakes. Resembling a king cobra they were fast, shot lasers from their eyes, and their fangs were deadly. The eye of XANA was on the back of their hood.

Doing a somersault backwards as the first one attacked, Sakura growled under her breath, "Where are you guys?"

[Fast forward

"No one is on Lyoko." Drew announced from his seat. Riley snapped shut his silver razr, "Stella and Sakura aren't picking up."

"The most recently activated tower is still connected with Lyoko." Drew announced.

Looming against the wall as a dark shadow, Dante inquired calmly, "Has plan B been run from Lyoko?"

A tapping of keys then a, "No." was heard. Riley walking up to the console suggested, "Try tracking down Sakura's cell phone signal. Maybe she can tell us something." More rapid typing was heard. "I've got a lock. She's in the scanner room."

[Rewind To Lyoko

10 down, one to go. Too bad that this sicklet looked like the mother of all sicklets. _Hmmm . . . . Maybe I should call them skillets_ contemplated Sakura. Stella had run in the opposite direction of the skillets, so hopefully by now she was safe in a tower.

The sicklet/skillet rose up so it was eye level with Sakura. Sakura with a flourish unfolded a fan and blinked. There were needles embedded into it.

So the mama sicklet spits needles with great speed. Grabbing her whip Sakura attacked successfully destroying mama sicklet, and was hit by part of a needle barrage in the process.

Stumbling back against the glacier wall Sakura touched her sparking torso amazed she hadn't devirtualized. _I can't lose all of my life points until I know Stella is safe._ With that Sakura turned and ran off in the direction Stella had gone.

_Why me? Why is it that whenever I go to Lyoko there is always a monster or three guarding my safe haven?_ Stella wondered.

Crouching behind a grey ice rock Stella spied on the tower and its guards, two hornets and two tarantulas.

_Okay, so if I look like Sakura would I have her weapons?_ Stella glanced down at her attire and jumped with Shock. She'd changed, again!

Reaching down into her belt (her outfit that looked strangely similar to Elizabeth's at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. The outfit she wears to the brother hoods meeting. The deep navy blue one) she pulled out of a pocket on the belt a fan. Stella grinned. Maybe the odds weren't completely against her.

o o

O

"I told you it would work," mocked Drew grumbling over the memory of Eric's smug tone when he, Drew, realized his, Eric's, idea worked.

The air vents, seriously. Who would have thought they would be big enough???? Too escape, no less.

He and Eric had split from the electronics store. Eric went to check with animal control's progress, and Drew had slipped away to go to the factory, and enact Plan B. He was almost inside the entrance of the factory when he saw them, tigers with the evil eye of XANA in their eyes.

Drew's eyes flickered about before he, with catlike grace, started climbing the nearest support for the factory. It led to the rafters.

Below him he heard a feral snarl and the tower trembled from the weight of a feline coming to maul his guts out.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

_Not good! Very bad! Muy mal, MUY MAL!_ The hornets were gone (thank you Sakura for morning stars and fans), but the tarantulas were aware and angry.

Stella huddled behind a large chunk of ice. She knew the rock was taking the lasers for her. She knew she didn't stand a chance against two tarantulas, and she knew if she took two more hits she was gone.

_What's with the security? Seriously, it's just a tower. Go guard a different one._ All Stella wanted was to get inside a tower and relax, safe. She couldn't leave. She wouldn't make a meter across the empty space to the next rocks without being devirtualized.

This was it. If Stella could have cried she would have then. There was so much she wanted to know, to remember.

As she lowered her head to her knees for comfort a strange thing happened. A tiny tear dripped out of her eye, down her cheek, and dropped to the ground. The ground trembled at the moment of impact from that tear. The even stranger thing then anyone being able to cry on Lyoko was the tear itself. It was glowing, shining pure light.

Stella's eyes started to glow; not with more tears but with a silvery white light that illuminated off of her eye, the whites and her pupils.

When the tarantula came around the rock to finish the rock it didn't get far. As soon as its head came over the rock a dagger sliced through the head and the eye of XANA in the process.

A female figure slightly glowing with an aurora of silver white light stepped out from the rock and faced the remaining tarantula. The tarantula went down on a knee and prepared to fire. In the female's hand was a whip ready to be used by the expert.

The stand off started. . .

Ø 

. . . as another finished.

Dante and the wolf were still going at it; each alpha male refusing to give ground.

It was a chilling scene. A 16 year old teenage boy with black hair and blood red eyes staring down a wolf possibly wild with rabies. Of course the red eyes would be explained by reporters as reactions to the light from the camera flashes, and the tint of the windows.

Quite a crowd had gathered outside the store: Animal Control, police, medical teams, and, of course, the paparazzi.

Riley had found an employee of the store in the backroom. Drew had sent Riley a text about the escape route via the air vents. Riley was trying to convince the blubbering employee to leave, quietly without attracting attention.

It all happened in seconds. The employee looked at the wolf and screamed. Jerking around the wolf leaped for the two standing there.

Ø 

High up in the air, Drew balanced on a connecting beam in the rafters edging as far away from the emerging tiger as he could. The feline, up with its quarry now on level ground, crouched, and leaped.

Ø 

The whip was wielded, and the shots fired. A roaring crack echoed across the ice sector. An energy pulse, a mix of pick and silver white followed the ground and enveloped the tarantula; the tarantula's rapid shots disintegrated into the energy pulse.

Head lifted high and walking with an alien grace, Stella strode across the distance to the tower and entered.

Her outfit was dark blue with gold embroidery. Her hair, black, was pulled out of her face and back, divided into 6 locks secured and cascaded down her back to a couple of inched above her waist. Her 6 locks had additional rings going around them at selected equal intervals from the base of the hair at the neck to mid back.

The rings in the tower changed the same color Stella glowed (you know how white those rings glow? That is the color Stella is glowing) as she walked across them.

Some recollections, instinct, autopilot had come over her. Her last real thoughts before her memories took over were: I-I can't give up. This is not the end. I will not give up.

She stopped in the middle of the platform and was tugged gently into the air ascending toward the above interface.

Ø 

Riley shoved the employee out of the way, and took the hit, falling backwards onto the ground. He was barely able to fend off the gnashing jaws from touching him.

Ø 

The tiger pounced sailing through the air toward Drew. Drew only had a pipe for defense. It was out in the air in a defensive position.

Ø 

Stella touched down. A screen appeared. She placed her glowing hand on it. Her hand stopped glowing while the glow transferred to the screen. Stella pulled her hand way. Letters scrolled across the screen. She couldn't understand them, or even remember them.

One thing she did understand though. A word popped up:

Code

Underneath it letters typed themselves across the screen.

L …

Y …

Riley lost his grip on the wolf's throat. The only obstacle that kept it from it from ripping his throat out was gone.

O …

Dante realizing in the milliseconds at hand his defense to protect his friend would come too late.

K …

The jaws coming closer. . .

O . . .

. . . and stopped.

The wolf its jaws inches away from closing around Riley's throat collapsed as it became unpossesed

Ø 

The tiger passed through Drew, harmless, an insubstantial hologram. It flickered then disappeared as the tower on Lyoko shut down deactivated. Drew sat down, and below him he could see other felines disappearing in a similar fashion. He was going to sit awhile before he tried to climb down the supports.

Ø 

On Lyoko . . .

Sakura was running towards a tower in a clearing. She had felt a call and had felt sister weapons to her own being used near here.

She gasped as she stopped. The tower, it had changed from red to blue, neutral. It was deactivated. Seconds later a white light came from the tower and swept over her. She could feel herself leave before she fell into darkness.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

The tension was tight in the elevator as the three teens waited for the doors to open.

"Sakura!" cried Riley as he found her sprawled half in half out of a scanner apparently unconscious.

Sakura groaned, "I'm fine. I'm just enjoying breathing right now. I'm not getting up." She yawned. "Stella's in Lyoko, I think."

"You think? Why would she be in Lyoko in the first place?"

A giggle came from behind Riley. It sounded strained and like the giggle of an insane person would have.

"Lions and tigers and bears," sang Stella in a sing song crazed voice.

"Oh my!" Stella and Sakura burst into hysterical giggles.

Dante, who had been helping support Stella as she stood, nearly staggered as she fell against him in giggles. Sakura on the ground was rolling around in a fit of mirth. Drew, Dante and Riley exchanged glances. Dante gave a small nod. With a push Stella was inside the scanner, and its doors closed on her; Riley did the same for Sakura. The scanners started to hum in activity as the computer scanned the medical and mental condition of the girls.

Heading toward the elevator Dante turned to give a firm look at the third scanner. Drew stepped inside and the doors shut. The scanner hummed as it prepared to send its occupant to Lyoko. Riley joined Dante in the elevator.

"Your connection with technology is cool and useful, but creepy." Riley stated.

Dante smiled a very rare evil smile.

(-:-)

On Lyoko a purple cat boy surveyed the inside of a tower. A simple reconnaissance mission.

"Okay Drew, I'm bringing you in."

"Great. How are the girls?"

"Sane, sleepy, and quiet. Prepare for materialization."

(-:-)

Drew stepped out of the elevator into the control room to be greeted with the sight of something akin to a puppy pile of the two girls. The sisters were leaning against the wall and each other as they slept, a blanket covering them.

"So when did they drift off?"

Riley, standing silent guard over his siblings gave his reply. "Shortly after we got them up here. They were dead on their feet once they finished with the scans. We haven't been able to get an explanation of what happened, or why Stella was on Lyoko."

Drew cocked his head to the side, "That reminds me. What do you and Sakura have against letting Stella on Lyoko? Or are you just being super overprotective siblings?"

Riley glanced down at the sleeping brunettes and gave a slight smile. "If she's devirtualized on Lyoko she dies because of whatever bug XANA placed on her card. Therefore to not run that risk we don't let her out in Lyoko. It is too dangerous."

Dante spoke up from the computer console, "Some of us Lyokians would argue your world is the most dangerous."

Riley shook his head. "We should probably wake them up."

Drew grinned. Now was the time for fun. Riley knew that glean in his friend's eye, and even Dante working away on the supercomputer smirked as he anticipated Drew's next move.

"Drew, I wouldn't—" Riley started, but he was cut off by Drew's loud wake up call.

"WAKEY WAKEY SLEEPY HEADS!"

With a thud Drew went flying in the air and bounced across the floor until he slid to a stop next to Dante across the room from the evil eyed Sakura.

Sakura's temper was not something you want brought out. It was worse then her mom, Yumi's, temper. Stomping across the space between her and Drew practically spewing flames she shouted, "When I get my hands on you I'm going too—!"

A hand on her arm stopped her.

"Sis, don't kill him." Sakura looked into Stella's eyes and saw some hidden meaning there. Backing up, eyes narrowing, Sakura almost snarled, "You wouldn't."

A grin grew on Stella's face until it rivaled the grinch's. "Try me. You never did deny my statement."

"If you say it, I'll . . ."

"You'll what?" asked Riley and Stella. Stella added at the end, "Sis?"

Eyes narrowed, Sakura spun around and gave a cry to vent her frustration. Drew blinked. That whole conversation had been full of hidden meanings and reading between the lines. It seemed he was illiterate at it.

"What—?"

"Don't ask," the trio of Stern siblings said in a monotone. Drew shrugged.

Stella remembered something, and Sakura did to at the same time. Stella snapped her fingers in triumph, and her face lit up. Sakura had an 'oh yeah' look on her face.

The two brunettes crossed the control room and flanked Dante's chair. Sakura on the right of Dante, and Stella on Dante's left.

"Hey Dantes." Stella started, cooing almost.

"When we were on Lyoko-" Sakura continued.

"-I was able to communicate-"

"With Stella?"

"Why?" they both asked simultaneously.

Dante, the stoic ice block, was left unaffected by the attempted female cuteness used to finagle answers from guys.

"I've been working out the bugs used on you card, Stella, and you have partial audio. So far it is with Sakura and Drew. Drew is sorting out the connection issue between yours and Riley's profiles."

"Speaking of Lyoko," Riley locked gazes with Sakura, "Why was Stella allowed in?"

Sakura sighed. "We were being chased by a posse of XANA possessed predators. We barely made it to the elevator without being clawed. In the time of crisis I ruled the safest place for Stella to be at was Lyoko where she wouldn't be mauled to death by rapid wild animals."

Riley couldn't argue with that explanation. He would have done the same thing in her position.

"Speaking of Lyoko now did the tower deactivate?"

Sakura snapped her fingers. "Yeah! I've been meaning to ask that too. I saw its aura shift back to neutral on Lyoko when I was looking for Stella."

Riley shot her a look. "You lost her?"

"I told her to hide then find a tower. Then a pack of skillets from Carthage appeared. I had to make sure it didn't attack Stella and help clear the way for when Dante got to Lyoko," turning to face Dante, "which reminds me, did you deactivate the tower?"

One look at his face told Sakura the answer.

"Hello, Captain Obvious, we've already been over this." Drew called. Sakura sent him a death glare before turning back to the computer.

The room was silent suddenly. Drew was looking at Riley who was looking at Sakura who was looking at Dante who was looking at Stella. Stella was looking at the ground using her brown hair as a curtain to hide behind.

What was she supposed to tell them? I was being chased by possessed animals, and I pressed random buttons on the keyboard which ended up virtualizing both of us on Lyoko. I started joking around with Sakura and ended up looking like her. We went looking for a tower; I was told by Sakura to hide and try to find a tower. I do. It's guarded by two hornets and two tarantulas. I get rid of the hornets, but I realize I don't stand a chance against the tarantulas. I feel weird and switch to an unknown autopilot mode where I destroy the two tarantulas. I go into the tower I found, and instead of resting and restoring my life points I go up to a second platform, give the computer my handprint, and the words CODE LYOKO scroll across the screen. Then the boxes on the side of the tower fall down. A few seconds later, five maybe, new boxes appear on the side of the tower inside and glow a blinding light. Next thing I know, I feel like I'm coming off an extreme sugar high in the scanner room.

Looking around the room Stella came to a shocking conclusion. She had said all of that out loud. "Oops," she murmured.

Drew spoke first. "That explains some things. And for the whole looking like Sakura thing, your special power on Lyoko is shape shifting. With help from Mr. Techno.2 I worked the bugs out of it. No weapons though, except for what you can get from the shape shift. Oh, stick with people. We don't want you shifting into a monster only to be stuck or destroyed by one of us." He said. Drew was in one of his serious moments.

Sakura recapped more on her tale, and the group contemplated it all. Dante spoke first. "The news reports are going crazy with the rapid wolf attacks, and bicycle messengers taking out bears." Stella and Sakura shared a giggle. The chair spun around, "All in favor of a return to the past, say aye."

Five ayes rang throughout the room, and soon a yellow-white light enveloped their sight.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: **

"Ooh!" breathed Stella in complete awe and delight. She already knew about Furuba 16, but she was still as enraptured by it now as she had been the first time she had seen it. "Let's get ice cream." She said practically.

Sakura looked at her, "You aren't going to drool over the new book? Why?"

Stella grinned, "Eric's gonna be here in T-minus 40 seconds. If we leave now we can escape with our ego intact."

Sakura considered the logic behind this. "Cool let's go."

Walking away from the bookstore Sakura pushed Stella. "You **are** going to tell me what happened on Lyoko right? In great detail?"

"Yeah, but I don't get it myself."

OOO

In her room Stella flopped onto her bed exhausted. They had run into Drew on their way to the ice cream parlor and had dragged him along with them.

Sakura and Drew had started a sprinkle war with a group of five year olds, and as a punishment they had, including her, to clean-up the shop. It had turned into the mother of all food fights. Theirs was a mix of flying sprinkles, chocolate chips, m&ms, and gummy bear barrages. Stella smiled goofily. It was great.

Rolling over onto her sides she came face to face with a book. Sitting up she read the note on top.

_Stella _

_Meet at the factory for training 3:30-5:30 on Monday. Enjoy your spare time while you have it. _

_S&D _

Peeling the note off the book's cover Stella froze. A wide happy grin spread across her face.

At the factory

Sakura stood behind Dante sitting in the control room. Dante was following a documentary on the super computer about what commands were typed in, who was materialized, what enemy was where and what attacks carried out in sequential order. The documentary had been put together by Jeremy Belpois over a past XANA attack.

"Do you think she found it?" Sakura asked.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
A far off scream of delight reached their ears.

Dante grinned slightly. "She found it."

Sakura shook her head and held back a laugh. Sobering she focused a steady stare on Dante.

"Do you really think training will help her? I think it's a bad idea. She shouldn't be on Lyoko if it can be avoided." Sakura stated concerned. She was responsible for Stella, so was Riley. They had to look out for her safety, and going on Lyoko where her being devirtualized equals death for Stella wasn't safe.

Dante was silent. When he did speak his words were carefully placed and thought through. "When she does go to Lyoko she needs to be able to take care and defend herself. She won't always have a babysitter."

Sakura didn't carp anymore on the matter, but deep inside she was torn between helping and protecting Stella.


	18. Chapter 18

**Episode 1: Godzilla, I love you**

Stella's world was dark. All she could see was blackness. She was tense listening intently, her ears twitching. Her tail twitched too.

Out of all her demi forms for physical appearance she appreciated her Drew demi form the most. She was a catgirl with fleas. Unfortunately, her card still had bugs, but her communication and senses were repaired. The only weapons Stella had were those she gleaned from her special ability, in her case shape shifting. She could completely make herself look like any of her teammates, and blend in with the scenery.

Though there were some limitations to this. Stella couldn't stay in a full shape shift for long or her life points started dropping. Drew theorized it was reminding her of who she was. That if she stayed in full shift for too long she would forget how to revert back to normal. Her demi forms had no such qualms. Speaking of demi forms. Her demi forms can be described as half forms. Stella halfway shifts, in a sense. She still has her own physical features, and she gains a Stellafied version of whatever person she wants to shift into. Stella was still back and white on Lyoko, but her clothes in demi and full shift had color. Only her skin and other accommodating body limbs were colorless.

Focus! Stella tensed and flung herself into a back flip missing the laser arrow directed at her. Silver eyes popping open she landed and launched her own laser arrows in the direction she had heard the laser arrows being shot.

Sensing another presence, Stella unsheathed her claws (like Wolverine's) and slashed at the entity behind her. She hit nothing but air.

Hearing the tell tale whine of Sakura's fans whirling toward her Stella rapidly back flipped several times across the platform . . . and fell over the edge!

Sakura gasped, "STELLA!"

The scream echoed across Lyoko, and Sakura ran across the platform to the edge. Crouching on a nearby boulder surveying the entire process and even contributing, Drew warned, "Sakura, I wouldn't . . ."

With a snik Drew's voice was cut off. His voice shouting "Laser Arrow!" was all Sakura heard before turning and unexpectedly feeling the pressure of a laser arrow hitting her. Sakura was devirtualized. Her last sight was of cat boy standing on the boulder his arm extended from where he had shot his weapon.

- )O( -

"Dante! Stella fell off the edge!" Sakura panicking burst out of the elevator and rushed over to where her brother and Dante were grouped by the super computer.

"Sakura—" Riley started.

"She fell into the digital sea!" Sakura's voice rose higher and higher.

"Sakura—" Dante tried.

"She's dead! No, she can't be. She's to strong for that. We have to get her out of there!"

"Sakura, sheesh, calm down, OW!" Drew yelled, "What was that for?"

"For devirtualizing me when I could have helped Stella!" Sakura screeched.

"Sis, calm down. Breathe." Ordered Stella. Sakura gaped at Stella mutely.

"BREATHE!" Stella commanded with more force. Sakura did drawing in a deep breathe and exhaling questions.

"What! How did you? But you . . .? Wha???"

Stella led Sakura over to a wall nest to Drew who was examining his bruised shin. Riley chuckled, "Simple. Stella used her blending ability to make it seem like she fell off the edge. While invisible she found out where Drew was because he spoke, sliced and diced him, then she fully morphed into visibility as Drew to devirtualize you. All with a virtual blindfold on."

He turned to Stella and bowed. "You have learned well my young padawan learner."

Stella bowed in return," I'm only as good as what my teacher has taught me."

"Riley taught you how to trick people?!" Sakura screeched.

"No, Drew did."

Getting up, Sakura glared at Drew and kicked him in the shin, again.

"HEY!"

"Alright lovebirds, training is over for today. You are dismissed." Dante called. Drew and Sakura, oblivious, bickered on. Stella just grinned with a knowing smile.

- )O( -

Dante stared blankly at the board. His focus so introverted his eyes had glazed over like crispy crèmes. Of course a part of him was aware to what was going on in the class, keeping up in case he was called on. The other part was busy. Busy calculating equations, testing theorems, doing computer work, factoring lots of math and science and computer technical stuff. He was busy testing, mentally, what was up with the bugs in Stella's card.

The bugs made it so if she was devirtualized on Lyoko she died. It also came with the visual backing up it was there, Stella's physical appearance on Lyoko, the black, white, grey and silver shades that accompanied it.

Dante has some theories in progress, but most of them couldn't explain one thing. How Stella was able to deactivate towers, to use the Code Lyoko code. Maybe XANA had given her a bug in the form of the Code Lyoko code. Maybe that's what was making the bug work and caused the loss of color, and attack/ weapons. Maybe if he took it away she would . . .

"Mr. Millard, what is the answer?" the voice broke Dante's concentration shattering his thought process. The small piece of attention he had assigned to the class transferred instantaneously what he had missed. With a grace that defied humans on courtesy and politeness nearly unheard of in its rarity, Dante smoothly answered, "The volume of Pyramid ABCD is 1082.759 units cubed."

Mrs. M(cKenzie) smiled fondly at her brightest pupil. He shouldn't be in Geometry. He had the brains for calculus and beyond, but because of the school policy for newcomers starting in the middle of the school year he head to go through Geometry as a sophomore.

"Correct. Miss Stern, please explain why the answer to the volume is what it is."

As Stella jumped, Dante smiled in amusement. He wasn't the only one not paying attention.

"Um . . uh. . ." Stella managed to stumble out the answer. Mrs. M satisfied moved on with the lesson. Dante smiled internally. _Well, a plus to having freshmen Geometry is that Stella's in my class, and boy does she need the help._

Focusing half his mind on Mrs. M's lecture and another half on his mental calculations Dante failed to sense the ominous twitch in his mind that had he been paying attention signaled an active tower.

- )O( -

"Is it dead?" asked Drew, tapping the glass aquarium side. Monstrous brown eyes magnified by the aquarium looked back into his monstrous hazel eyes.

"Maybe it's sleeping." Sakura suggested.

The object of their observation, a gecko, the class pet, named Godzilla, lay motionless on the aquarium floor.

Mrs. Hertz scowled at the two. "Sakura, Andrew go back to your seats!"

"But Mrs. Hertz, you said I could go to the restroom!" Drew complained.

"Then go! The rest of you pull out a sheet of paper for a pop quiz."

The class groaned, and Sakura glared daggers at drew as he cheekily smiled before leaving. No one noticed a dark shadow descending upon the gecko and the flash of red sign in its eyes.

After the pop quiz . . . for Sakura.

Sakura was bored. She had finished the quiz before everyone else, and it was laying face down in front of her. A sound of shattering glass brought the students jerking out of their reverie. A side of the aquarium wall had shattered.

_That was odd. Too odd. Hmm. . ._ Sakura mused.

"Now class, calm down." Mrs. Hertz said through the class room. No one noticed Sakura as she pulled out her cell phone and quickly typed a text message to Dante.

- )O( -

The bell rang dismissing the classes all throughout the school. Drew was happy, "Oh darn. I missed the quiz. Too bad."

His phone vibrated. Frowning he flipped it open and read the message.

X. go to the factory.

- )O( -

_I hate math._ Stella thought woefully as the masses pressed around her. They drew her down stream toward her next class, Biology. _I really hate WAH?!?!_

Someone had grabbed onto her backpack handle and was dragging her backwards. Off balance Stella did her best not to fall, but the imbalance won, and she stumbled back to be caught in someone's arms. Looking up Stella met the cool gaze of dark sunglasses.

"Let's go." Dante said.


	19. Chapter 19

**Episode 1: Godzilla, I love you Part 1a:**

Sakura ran though the bushes crouching down for cover. She was looking for the gecko, Godzilla.

"Here Gozzie, Gozzie, Gozzie. Here Gozzie, Gozzie, Gozzie." No response.

Sakura huffed her annoyance and peered down under a bush. "If I were a gecko where would I be?"

"Far away from the crazy girl looking for it."

Sakura jumped. "Riley!"

Her brother grinned, "If you are seriously looking for a gecko named Godzilla look downtown or in Tokyo."

Sakura socked him. Riley laughed.

"Dante and Drew have it covered. We're the eyes and ears here, so go back to gym class."

(-:-)

At the factory

Stella stepped into the scanner waiting. Dante and Drew stepped into the two scanners to her right, Dante center, Drew far right. Stella closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She heard the scanners hiss and close. The hum of the scanners activating filled the room and she also heard the whoosh of materialization.

Stella opened her eyes slowly preparing to have gone color blind. She blinked.

"DANTE YOU JUGGLER!" she screamed before stomping out of the scanner and made her way to the elevator and literally punched the button. In muttered complaints said under her breathe she threatened and promised to pay Dante back.

The door opened, and stalking across the room violently jerking on the microphone and earphone screeching, "What's the big idea?" described Stella's actions perfectly at the moment.

"We love you to Stellums." Drew replied.

(-:-)

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" screeched Stella's voice over the intercom causing Drew to wince. "Grouchy," he murmured to quiet for Stella to hear.

"Stella, calm down. Prepare the vehicles just like we showed you." Dante advised coolly. His black eyes roamed Lyoko. His senses were being pulled in the direction of the tower. Connection, his eyes turned red.

Drew listened to the furious low mumblings of Stella and watched as two vehicles, the modified overboard (Harry's hover board in Spidey 3) with a thinner board width, but relatively same length. The overboard was a dark green with lime green. A black version of the overboard appeared beside it.

"Okay, Stella. Where's the tower?" Dante asked her. More tapping of keys

and an empty silence.

"Shift, Alt, F2, 4,3, enter to bypass the password indicator." Drew reminded her as he followed Dante on his board.

"I know. It's just. . . is it possible that XANA messed up the supercomputer? It says all the towers are activated."

Dante brooded on the matter. "It's possible."

"Do you want me to come to Lyoko?" Stella asked hopefully.

"No. Stay there. Monitor the news for strange stories of crisis."

"Fine."

Drew sighted the tower first, "There's the tower."

"And the welcoming committee."

This was the ice sector, so naturally they had a swarm of hornets to hack their way though. The first group of five came toward the two for the first attack.

(-:-)

"Fie you, Drew and Dante. And you too Sakura and Riley. And a pox on my parents. Stupid overprotective peoples in my life." Stella mumbled simmering, her eyes darting between the TV window on her computer, and the readout on Lyoko.

15 hornets. Three swarms. Fun.

"I can take care of myself!" Stella yelled at the screen, her microphone lying on top of the screen.

The ground shuddered making Stella freeze in her seat. She glanced around, and screamed at what she found.

(-:-)

"Stella how many more of these things are there?" Drew asked as another hornet exploded. Silence.

"Stella?" he repeated. Beside him, a hornet crackled consumed by red electricity then disappeared.

"She's probably still upset about us tricking her." Dante replied beside him. "Three."

Drew didn't entirely agree, but he let it go.

(-:-)

On Earth

The principal, Elizabeth Delmas, was sorting through files on her desk and talking on the phone.

"Yes, the buses need to be here at 5:00 am. We want to be at the station at 7:00am when it opens. Yes, I know its six months away, but if I don't finalize it now then you won't have an opening for me when I need it!"

She swiveled around in her chair and briefly looked out the window. There was a group of boys and one Asian girl with brown hair who were playing basketball.

"What do you mean you don't know if you'll be here in six months?" Elizabeth spun around in her chair, her back facing the window.

"I don't know if I'm going to be here in six months, but I am counting on it." Behind her the kids scattered as a humanoid lizard man stalked over to them.

"Just be there!" SLAM. Elizabeth relaxed against her chair. "What do they think is going to happen? This city will become the favorite haunt for Godzilla?" Behind her, the lizard man shuddered and started to grow in enormous proportions.

(-:-)

"Stella, you won't believe it! On Lyoko I got rid of seven hornets! An all new personal best. Can you believe-?" Silence and en empty control room greeted Drew, "Stella?"

He walked over to the control console, and picked up the microphone.

"Hey Dante, Stella's not here."

"I deactivated the tower a minute ago. She may have left for the school already."

"Maybe, are you back yet?"

As an answer Dante's profile popped up on the screen, and the computer whirred starting the process of materialization. A minute later Dante was beside Drew.

"Let's go. I'm sure she's fine."

(-:-)

Well, Stella wasn't fine.

"Hey!" she screamed, "Hey can anybody hear me?"

The weird overgrown spider most likely possessed by XANA watched Stella wrapped in a silk cocoon. Stella's screams echoed down the sewer tunnels, but no one heard her.

(-:-)

Two classes passed before any of the group realized something was wrong. During a passing period Dante and Drew looked up at the sound of their name.

"Have you guys seen Stella?"

The three stopped in the middle of the hall disrupting the flow of students who moved around them like water flowing around a rock.

"She came back after the trip to Lyoko." Drew said.

"She came back with you?" Sakura pursued.

"No, she was mad at us and left early."

"She wasn't in band last period, or in P.E. the period before. She isn't one to skip classes after a trip to Lyoko."

"She was mad at us."

"That still doesn't sound like Stella. She wouldn't skip class because she was upset. She would keep going until she broke down."

"I'll track her cell phone, and see if I can find her. She may be sulking."

"Thanks." Sakura said before disappearing into the current of students.

"Go to the factory, start a scan. I feel as if I've had wool pulled over my eyes."

The two guys parted paths.


	20. Chapter 20

**Episode 1: Godzilla, I love you Part 1b: **

Downtown

The ground shuddered as a huge purple foot slammed into the ground. The shockwave sent the parked cars jumping a foot off the ground and slamming back to earth with their car alarms beeping like there is no tomorrow. Civilians looked at the giant thing in horror. It was a big purple dinosaur. Children began to cry as that unforgettable song played through their minds.

_I love you . . ._

(o)

Stella hung limply, relaxing against her cocoon playing dead. She wasn't moving, but her mind was. Plots for escape filled her mind. In her pocket she touched her cell phone with her finger.

_C'mon Dantes._

(o)

"Wow!"

Drew called Riley, "We have not one, not two, but three active towers all in different sectors."

"Relay the message to Dante. Sakura and I'll hang tight here to keep civilians safe."

Drew hung up. Riley called his sister, "Guess what XANA is up to today."

(o)

Dante stiffened as he read the text message. _XANA attack. 3 towers._

He'd been right. His dad had pulled some seriously thick wool over is eyes. His mind connected with Stella's phone. It was close, just around the bend.

Rounding the corner Dante was immediately assaulted by the stink of XANA. He could feel it in the air. In the shadows, red eyes glowed at him. He also saw a huge spider web with one human sized and shaped wrapped bundle.

Carefully walking along the wall to the dead end where the web was Dante carefully monitored the XANA possessed spider. At the foot of the web Dante decided to use some of his inherited traits from his father: manipulating objects.

With a firm tug the web unraveled bringing the bundle down to his feet. Running his finger down the middle of the bundle from the head to the toes, Dante triggered the release of Stella.

Threads split and curled back revealing his missing teammate. Stella blinked her eyes in surprise at seeing Dante. Surprised she was free, and at the change of light. She didn't speak a word and just quietly followed Dante as they skirted the outsides of the room warily watching the spider. It wasn't until they were well away from the spider's lair before they broke into a run for the factory.

(o)

Sakura weaved through the crowds of screaming people trying desperately to reach the factory. The ground shuddered as a massive footstep was taken and another.

(o)

Down in the sewers the waters trembled and rippled with the above footsteps mighty force. Stella pushed herself to keep up with Dante.

"It's about time you showed up," Drew called as the elevator opened with Dante and Stella inside. Stella was doubled over panting over her previous exertion.

"Where are the towers?" Dante asked.

"I've found two. The other is cloaked."

"Cloaked?" Stella asked.

"It will be revealed once the other two are deactivated. What matters most now is getting to those towers and deactivating them."

"Wait, am I going?" Stella inquired.

A shudder echoed throughout the room. Pulling up a news window of a rampaging Godzilla, Dante and Drew answered her simultaneously.

"Yes."

"Firing up the scanners." Drew spoke over the intercom system. "Stella, you are going to be a good girl and stay inside a tower until we can materialize you back to Earth when the trouble is over, or we return to the past. Whichever comes first.

"Dante is going to escort you there; then he will go via the way tower to the forest sector where the first tower is."

Stella stepped into the scanner keeping her eyes open this time. She wasn't going to be tricked again. As the doors slid shut, and the machine whirred to life Stella silently berated herself for not trusting her friends more.

Stella landed in a crouch. She could hear Dante's nearly silent impact with the ground. Everything was normal except for the one fact Stella couldn't see where she was.

"Double D's, you wouldn't have left my digital blindfold on would ya?"

Silence than an "Oh," came from Drew.

"Yeah," smirked Stella, "I thought so."

"Where are we?" Stella asked Dante.

"Mountain Region. Drew, change of plans. I'm taking her to the way tower for safety."

"Gotcha."

Dante gently guided Stella onto his onyx hover board, not like she could see it, giving her a soft commentary of what was going on.

"I'm taking you to the hover board. Take a step. Feel that? That's the hover board. Get the other foot on, good. Now I'm going to get on in front of you. You are going to be, how Drew phrased it, a good girl and hold onto me."

"Hey, prodigy, stop the mush and get onto the road." Drew commentated.

Stella gasped at the burst of speed, and her hands held on tighter to Dante.

Stella saw nothing, literally. Darkness, considering the digital blindfold, acted like a real blindfold blocking off the incoming light from her eyes. Dante had constructed it as part of a way to try to understand some of the bugs XANA had implanted into her profile. The blindfold had turned into a useful training tool, but now Stella didn't like the fact she was on Lyoko with enemies, real XANA enemies, wanting to kill her without one of the two senses she was allowed on Lyoko.

Well, it wasn't as if she couldn't feel things on Lyoko. She could. She just couldn't feel pain. She felt the body of Dante in front of her, and the board beneath her feet. She couldn't feel the texture of the object or temperature, but just like wearing a pair of gloves, she could feel things on Lyoko.

Stella was holding Dante's shoulders. "Dante, why can't you disable the blindfold?"

Silence continued with only the purr of the hover board's engines to cover it. "Now, I mean." Stella added to her above statement.

"We're approaching the way tower," was all Dante said.

Stella felt the hover craft slow, as if passing through liquid. _We're in the tower._ Stella thought and the hover board stopped suddenly. If Stella hadn't morphed into her Demi Drew cat girl form she would have gasped, and fallen off the board. With the balance of her tail Stella was able to mimic the unseen body posture that Dante had allowing her to keep her balance at the abrupt halt.

"Step down." Dante quietly commanded. Stella swallowed and did as ordered... She was so scared she was going to fall into the bottomless chasm or sea. _I need to have more faith and trust in my teammates._ Stella thought over her irrational fear. Sure enough her foot hit a solid object, the platform, in the tower. Stella could hear the tell tale beeping noise as the platform lit up. Too bad she couldn't see it.

"There's not enough time." Dante said.

Stella was confused. "What?" she asked, but Dante had already left.

Stella sighed and lay down; she was going to attempt the impossible: sleeping on Lyoko.

_I really need to trust them more, or really him. _

(o)

A scratching sound alerted Drew to the danger at first. Dante was en route to the tower needing deactivation in the forest region. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Drew frowned. On the news two different monsters, one the beloved Barney, the other a giant green lizard that had starred in many movies terrorizing downtown Tokyo, were trekking their way through the city to an unknown point of origin.

Drew was trying to contact Riley and Sakura. Knowing XANA if those two weren't at the factory they would be targeted. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Drew spun the chair around. There was no one in the room besides him. A rustle from the ceiling caught his attention. _BIG. GIANT. HAIRY. SPIDER!!!_

"Dante when you deactivate that tower, please do it soon, and hope it undoes giant XANA possessed spiders!" Drew yelped into the mike before he started playing a deadly game tag.

(o)

Sakura was running. Behind her somewhere in the trees was her pursuer. _Why me? Oh yeah, I actively fight to save the world. Of course, I'm the one of the main targets._

Sakura spun around and yelled into the trees, "I loved you! Why can't you love me?"

The purple dinosaur advanced on the girl with no response. Maybe that was a good thing. No Barney loving person wanted to hear how far their idol had fallen. Sakura started her running again.

_I have to get to the factory, or I need to lay some tricks for the poor dear to fall into so I can get to the factory._

An evil smile crossed Sakura's face. One that when close friends, and family members saw knew and feared.

_This could be . . . fun._

(o)

In the tower Stella was occupied. She had shifted to her Sakura demi form, withdrew a number of different weapons, morphed to her Riley demi form, and she was currently using her mind to levitate the weapons and move them. She was currently fanning herself without actually touching the fan.

(o)

"Hey Barney!"

The purple dinosaur quit its stalking through the bushes to look across the street to the waving female twit that was getting its attention. Sakura, standing in the doorway of the Hermitage, called again, "Yeah, you XANA possessed stuffed animal; I'm talking to you. Come and get me."

The purple dinosaur, not the friend and child safe icon it once was, lumbered across the street to the hermitage. Sakura disappeared inside to prepare the funhouse.

(o)

Dante, in the forest sector, had found the first tower, and its annoying guardians with it. Three blocks were surrounding him just waiting to fire. True, they couldn't hurt the prodigy, but they could slow him down from accomplishing his goal.

Three ice beams were shot simultaneously at Dante. The figure of Dante was now an ice sculpture, which shattered. As the ice pieces flew through the air the blocks swiveled around on their axis in confusion. From behind them a red blast of lightening shot through each block's eye.

Dante smirked as the block's exploded. "Don't mess with the best."

With no further hindrances to keep him from the tower Dante entered the tower to deactivate it.

(o)

On earth the spider froze and shrunk back to a harmless little arachnid of regular proportions. Drew squished it before heading back to the console.

"I take it you deactivated the tower. I thank you."

"Be ready to pull up the transport to Sector 5."

On Lyoko

Dante watched the white sphere pop out, and it engulfed him. On the ride to sector 5 and while waiting for the door to appear he formulated theories and strategies to debug Stella completely, which included the Code Lyoko bug

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hahahahah, nub, lol

Jk

Jk

Jk

Jk

(A lovely note my dearest BROTHER, word) left, but I love the prankster anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His sense ranged out in front of him. In the whole sphere he could sense every monster, the key to stop the countdown though the shifting walls didn't bother him, and he especially felt the 'welcome mat' XANA had prepared for him. Dante sighed sprinting forward mentally formulating a route around said 'welcoming mat'. He did not want to be a part of it period.


	21. Chapter 21

**Episode 1: Godzilla, I love you Part 2:**

I'm going to do something almost unheard of, for the sake of the story. I'm going to break the fourth wall for the sake of the story. This is only temporary, and it's for (come on, say it with me) the sake of the story.

Imagine with me. Get those thinking caps on your head, dust off your brain and actually use it outside of school. Ready? Good.

On the TV show Drake and Josh, Drake and Josh have an evil, clever, witty and inventive little sister known as Megan. Megan's sole ambition in life is to torture her brothers. Keep her fixated in your mind. Now dig up Kevin McCallister from Home Alone 1 and 2. Picture all of Megan's and Kevin's wonderful pranks and ways they caused pain for the boobs and Harry and Marv.

Got it? Congratulations, you have just tipped the ice burg of deviousness Sakura has planned for that poor XANA possessed Barney. Feel free to imagine Barney's torment at the hands of Sakura starting, now.

(-o-)

Dante knew what was in store for him. He was walking into a mousetrap. To get the cheese (the tower) was simple, but once he moved the cheese (deactivated the tower) the trap would spring (devirtualizing him). He needed the cunning to spring the trap before he got the cheese therefore it would be safe to grab the cheese without fearing the trap would be sprung.

The tower glowed red while Dante sat and pulled a mini computer screen up in front of him. He started the process of tricking the trap. The plan? Picture the tower and the trap on a scale or a seesaw. Each end is balanced: the inactive trap and the active tower. If the balance tips example: when the tower is deactivated than the trap activates devirtualizing whoever deactivated the tower.

Dante had to make the program of the inactive trap think some one had deactivated the tower so it would spring, devirtualize no one, and become useless. Once the trap was tripped, Dante could deactivate the tower and move on to the last tower. Simple.

Dante finished typing and hit enter. VERY simple. All he had to do was send the trap the simulation of a tower deactivating, and it would go off. Okay, not so simple for normal non-computer literate program writing people, but simple for Dante. Satisfied with the disabled trap Dante entered the tower.

On Earth

Sakura was sitting on a certain K.O.'d XANA possessed Barney's back hitting its head with a 2 x 4 repeatedly.

"Evil. Barney. Won't. Hurt. Innocent. Civilians." Sakura emphasized each word by hitting Barney over the head with the 2 x 4. Scattered around her were different odds and ends in the even more deteriorated Hermitage. Marbles, bobby pins, a voodoo doll looking oddly like a certain blonde, and many more miscellaneous items surrounded her. She had been a very busy girl.

Barney poofed beneath her to send Sakura crashing to the ground. Rolling over she picked up a Barney stuffed animal.

"KAWAII[Cute in Japanese" Sakura shouted hugging Barney.

(-o-)

Drew's eyes widened at the sudden onslaught of information on the computer screen. _Wow,_ he thought as he clicked around for the next tower location.

"Okay, the next tower is in the desert region, Dante. Dante?"

Trapped in a tower in Sector 5

Dante frowned. He was locked in. There was a back up trap, and he had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. Dante was trapped inside the second tower while Godzilla attacked downtown.

(-o-)

Stella was jerked from her daydream of watching the first Star wars movie in her head. This included quoting lines and visualizing the scenes. Drew's voice dragged her out of her performance.

"Stella, we need you."

(-o-)

Stella stepped out of the desert way tower and heard Drew's approach.

"Um . . . wow." He said.

Stella tsked at him, "I need a ton of weapons and cat balance, so I made a hybrid demi of your and Sakura's forms. The way I figure when you guys get married and have a kid they'll look like this."

Drew was quiet for the next five minutes while they ran towards the tower Stella couldn't see.

"Gah!" Drew yelped.

"What?" Stella asked.

"Sandstorm, I can't see!"

"Well neither can I. We'll be the blind leading the blind."

Grabbing Drew's tail Stella started dragging Drew through the sandstorm with no idea where she was going.

(-o-)

"Riley!" Sakura yelled running up to her brother the Barney doll tucked under her arm. Riley turning to see his sister motioned for her to not move.

"What's going on? Barney's gone." Sakura informed/ asked. Riley turned and indicated his head toward the west side of the school campus.

"We have bigger problems."

The tell tale Godzilla screech/ roar rang through the air as it stalked into view.

"Shouldn't he be downtown?" Sakura asked.

"Apparently he decided to stalk a few Lyoko warriors." Riley replied, "Sakura, I want you to go to the factory, now."

"No. I'm not leaving you alone. We face this thing together."

Riley grunted in frustration and pulled his sister inside the tree line out of the open. Godzilla screamed. A crater took the spot where Sakura used to stand.

"I really wish you had gone to the factory. This gecko can shoot energy beams."

(-o-)

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No, we are not out of the sandstorm, Stella. Do you even know where we are going?"

"No."

"So where are you taking us."

"Wherever my feet lead me."

"And where is that?"

"I frankly don't know."

Stella stopped, and so did Drew. He didn't have much of a choice. He was as blind as Stella with the sandstorm, and she had a better sense of direction then he did.

"We need to jump." Stella said to herself.

"Huh? Wha!" Stella pushed Drew off the ledge. Scrambling around Drew extended his claws to try to catch something solid to stop his fall. As he fell out of the sandstorm he fell onto a moving rock. Looking over he saw Stella on another boulder behind him. The boulder moved across the desert region following its own unseen trail.

A laser bolt flashed by his face singing his spiky hair. Firing off an answering laser arrow Drew turned to find five kankrelats and a path that led to the tower. Leaping across moving rocks, feeling much like Frogger, Drew landed on Stella's moving boulder.

"It's time for me to return the favor!" he yelled as he pushed Stella off the moving rock and onto the beginning of the path to the tower.

"I hope your feet know where they're going!" he called as the boulder took him away from the path entrance. Three kankrelats jumped onto other moving boulders to pursue Drew. The other two turned to fire on Stella. Stella was stumbling up the path running towards the tower.

(-o-)

Riley and Sakura weren't having a much better time on earth. They had run into the forest to lead Godzilla away from civilians. They had unknowingly added to the deforestation of the world thanks to Godzilla's, the gecko on steroids (XANA steroids. Tsk. Tsk.) Energy beams shot out of its mouth. On the plus side, scientists and spelunkers could marvel at the craters left in the ground and theorize how they came to be while enjoying rappelling down the sides.

The siblings were headed for the manhole; Riley was still determined to get Sakura to safety, and Sakura refused to leave her brother. Either way, the manhole was deep in the woods away from civilization and people for Godzilla to hurt. Unfortunately, many trees were being fried and adding to global warming. Sorry, environmentalists.

(-o-)

Stella mentally added the kankrelat behind her on her most loathed list. It was right up there with the annoying, immature, self-absorbed jerk, named Steven in her Biology class that shot spitballs at her every single day.

Thud. _Well that's 10 life points I'll never see again until I get to the tower. _Stella was walking across a narrow walkway that led to the tower. The tower was maybe six yards away from her; she could feel it. The walkway was about the width of her school desk, not that wide. Stella wouldn't have run on it even if she could see.

And now two annoying kankrelats were marching single file behind her trying to devirtualize her before she reached the tower.

_I have 50 life points and no patience left, _Stella thoughtImmediately upon hearing the hum of a charging up laser shot, Stella dropped to the ground, spun, and shot the first kankrelat. Sitting on her duff face to face with the last kankrelat Stella extended her hand. Her skin rippled as tiny digital squares changed her form (she's shape shifting a.k.a. shifting, morphing, changing).

Stella smiled smugly as she scooted closer to the bewildered kankrelat.

"Buh-bye" She called as she activated her violet lightsaber. The extending blade shot through the XANA symbol, and the kankrelat exploded. Turning around and standing, Stella wondered why she hadn't used her Riley demi form earlier. She liked being a Jedi.

(-o-)

Hopscotch. This reminded Drew of hopscotch: jumping from one moving rock to the next, shooting kankrelats, watching one collide into a cliff. It all reminded him of a game. It was time for a change in tactics though. It was time to turn the tables, change the games. It's all the same.

Drew jumped over the distance between his moving boulders to the last kankrelat's boulder. Drew picked up the kankrelat by the huge hump of its forehead. The kankrelat's little legs wiggled, and it spun around rapidly before settling to try to blast away the last of Drew's 30 life points to kingdom come. Try being the keyword there.

Drew tossed the kankrelat up in the air and shot it through the eye. In retaliation right before it blew up, the kankrelat shot Drew.


	22. Chapter 22

**Episode 1: Godzilla, I love you Part 2b:**

Dante emerged from the tower in sector 5 after having successfully escaped the back up trap. He closed his eyes and searched the towers of Lyoko. He grinned. The tower was deactivated.

"Now for personal suicide." With that Dante devirtualized himself.

(-:-)

"GOZZIE!" Sakura exclaimed in delight as she picked up the gecko.

"He lives," Riley muttered from where he lay sprawled in a bush.

Sakura, with hearts in her eyes, continued on with her enthusiastic babble. "You're alive! AND you aren't an evil gecko on steroids. You are a cute and lively gecko who ids going back inside the aquarium where you belong."

Riley sat up and ruffled his hair to knock the leaves out of it. That had been quite a leap. It had defied physical limitations and rules, but the energy beam had missed. He was in mostly one piece, but his pencils were in pieces however.

Life Lesson #1: Never keep pencils in your back pocket when you are running from a super pumped gecko on steroids.

"…your name is Gozzie, and you are mine," Sakura babbled on stars replacing the hearts in her eyes.

Riley rolled his eyes. His sister was acting crazier then usual. It may have something to do with the adrenaline rush brought on by a near death experience. The sooner Dante initiated a return to the past the better. The forest resembled a mountain range, lots of craters.

(-:-)

"Return to the past now." Dante calmly said as he pressed the button

(-:-)

"Is it dead? I really want to know, is it?" Drew asked tapping the side of the aquarium.

"No," Sakura rolled her enormous magnified brown orbs, "that's why it went on a rampage and destroyed the rainforest. Besides," cue heart scene and stars in eyes, "Gozzie wouldn't die on Mommy!"

"Oh great, now I've gotta barf from the excessive cuteness."

"After you've taken the pop quiz." Mrs. Hertz cut in.

Sakura punched the air as Drew sullenly went to his seat to take the quiz. Sakura smiled widely. She did well on the quiz the first time around; she didn't expect this time to be any different.

(-:-)

Stella had learned her lesson. No drifting off and daydreaming in math class, and ask Dante to explain the homework. Half her pyramid answers were wrong.

Mrs. M asked her the question. Smooth delivery, correct answer, no stuttering SUCCESS!

"YES!" Stella shouted standing up in her seat; her homework and notes fluttered to the ground. Then Stella made eye contact with the rest of the class. She slunk down in her seat blushing fiercely. _Yet again coolness eludes me. I really hate math._

(-:-)

Dante grinned. Now that was amusing. Ding! Eureka. The answer has come. Dante has found a way to debug Stella.


	23. Chapter 23

**Episode 2: Dying to Live**

"No, I refuse. I'm drawing the line here. No, no y no!" Stella spat out the stark refusal at the determined Dante. _Don't look at me like that. Don't look at me like that. Please, don't give me the _determined_ gaze._ Stella silently pleaded with Dante.

"There is no force on this planet that will change my mind," Dante replied.

Stella smirked at him. "Good, 'cause I feel the same way."

"You'll be safe."

"No, I won't. There are some things you just don't gamble with."

Stella turned to leave. This had been an interesting XANA free afternoon. Genius Dante had come up with a genius idea that Stella happened to think was insane. Funny how those two traits are so closely related.

"Do you trust me?"

Stella stopped in her tracks. She had been dreading this question for weeks after the Godzilla incident. She did trust Dante, just not to the extent where she would willingly let herself be subjected to the Scyphozoa. She didn't want to be subjected to that nightmare.

Nightmares, ugh, she had the same reoccurring nightmare for weeks.

School was over for the day. Dante and Stella were talking in a school courtyard. Riley, Sakura, and Drew were talking elsewhere in the courtyard when Dante had cone to talk to Stella separately.

Stella desperately made eye contact with the trio. Help me, she mouthed.

"What's going on?"

Riley has entered the conversation. Stella, infuriated, go mood swings and confusion! rounded on Riley.

"He wants Scippy to drain me!"

"WHAT?!!"

Sakura has joined the conversation with Drew behind her.

"So this is what you've been brooding about? May I inquire as you your reasoning?"

Drew.

"I believe the bug that is causing Stella's condition is the Code Lyoko code she can use. If we drain the bug she won't die when she loses all her life points."

"We? And how are _we_ going to test this theory? Shoot away all her life points and see if she comes back to earth alive? No thank you, no way, no how. It's not going to happen."

_Score one for Sakura!_ Stella cheered. By the look on Riley's face he wasn't for the idea either.

"See? They're against it. Three against one. Majority rules. No."

Silence ruled for the next five minutes as three different Sterns stared down a stoic Dante. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees of the courtyard. A tiny dust devil spun in the top right corner of the courtyard.

Drew watched with rapt fascination. Three angry glares vs. one cool, confident gaze. All through the silence one thing nagged at Stella's mind.

Dante had spoken as if he could control what the scyphozoa would drain, so she would be safe if she chose to do it. What kind of arrogant, control freak did he think he was?

"Another thing," Stella spoke more calmly then she had all day. She was curious; she would ask. "You spoke as if you could assure me I'll be safe-"

"You will."

"I'm not done. You assume my ability to use the Code Lyoko code is a bug, the bug that is endangering my life on Lyoko. I resent that. Two, you speak as if you can control the scyphozoa. It's almost as if you think you have the authority to tell Scippy what it should do and not do. XANA controls Scippy. Who do you think you are, XANA?"

Dante's eyes darkened and took on shades of red. Sakura took in a sharp intake of breath. _So he still hasn't told her. He better do it soon, or he'll regret it._

Dante turned and started to walk away from the group. Stella was confused. What did she say to make him react like that?

"Dante?" she asked.

Dante just kept walking.

"Was it something I said?" She asked the remaining group members.

Drew spoke first, "Sort of, but he has some things to think through first."

Sakura walked up to Stella and gently tugged on Stella's hair.

"Come on, let's go to the salon."

Stella let herself be led away.


	24. Chapter 24

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: Stella goes crackers **

Earlier in the previous chapter's morning

Stella gave off a huge yawn. She had gotten to bed late, and it had taken hours of tossing and turning until she finally fell asleep. Lately she didn't have nightmares haunting her sleep; she had the inability to sleep haunting and exhausting her now. This past night had been a combination of the two terrors of hers. Today didn't bode well.

Stumbling across the room Stella stopped in front of the mirror to briefly preen before she hit the showers. Skip the shower she had taken one last night. Stella picked up her brush and started brushing her hair. She froze.

A high pitched scream could be heard throughout the campus causing many students to jerk awake.

"Where's the fire?" Drew asked groggily until his roommate threw a pillow at him efficiently shutting his mouth.

Before class

"Ooh, Sa-ku-ra!" cried a panicked Stella as she haphazardly slid around a corner, stumbled across the tile and latched onto Sakura's arms.

"Stella, what's wrong? You look terrible." Sakura asked taking in Stella's appearance. It looked extremely disheveled. Brown slip on tennis shoes were shoved on her feet the laces flopping all over the place. Her jeans were wrinkled and the magenta turtle neck and jean vest over it looked as if it had been wadded into a ball and used as a soccer goal on the laying field. The only neat and carefully placed article of clothing on her was the black beanie she wore. Her brown hair hung limp across her shoulders.

"We have to go to the salon, now."

The disorderly appearance had leaked over into Stella's demeanor. She looked frazzled and on edge.

"Stella, we can't go now."

"We HAVE to! And why not?"

"School? The last time I checked it was against the law and rules to skip school."

"We have to go!"

"Why?" Drew asked.

Stella suddenly seemed to notice the other people in the courtyard. Riley was watching her with a knowing look. Drew looked curious; and Dante was giving her half his attention while the other half was on his laptop. The crowds of students lingering outside the halls trying to stay out of class as long as they could were watching her to.

"Why? Because, can't you tell? Isn't it obvious? I'm a mess. My nails are chipped, my skin is dry, my hair is limp, and I have split ends!"

"Sheesh, calm down. There's no need for you to blow a casket."

"I'm not. Stop carping on me you … skinny prune!" Stella stormed off.

"I don't believe it. She's gone crackers!"

"No, she's just uberly stressed out right now." Sakura replied. "Sorry Dante, but Stella and I aren't going to be able to make training."

Dante raised an eyebrow over his laptop. Sakura sighed. "This salon visit is important to her."

"Color me an idiot, but don't salons specialize in hair styles not skin and nails?" Drew spoke up.

"It's more like her monthly spa visit. Stella and Sakura go for sister bonding time. It just came earlier this month then expected." Riley replied. All conversations were halted when the warning bell rang for the fist class of the day.

B)

All day Stella was self conscious about everything. She was twitchy and paranoid. In band her scales were atrocious. P.E. was dodge ball which nearly caused a nervous breakdown. By the time Geometry came around Dante was surprised to see the wild eyed girl, who's name was Stella, alive. When Mrs. M announced the test Stella went very pale and was sent to the nurse's office.

B)

Stella made a non-dramatic tired entry to the cafeteria. She sat down in her seat, used her arm as a pillow, and put her head down to rest.

"Are you alri-" Drew started.

"Too.Tired.To.talk. Leave.Me.Alone."

Sakura touched what she could of Stella's forehead. Stella had pulled on a hat over her beanie.

"Is that a ski mask in your pocket?" Drew asked. Stella was dozing.

"She has panicked herself to exhaustion." Riley concluded.

"But what gets me is why she's panicking. Stella never struck me as a girly-girl who is absorbed in her looks."

"Stella isn't the type to go ballistic over a bad hair day." Dante said, "But she is panicking, so there must be a valid reason to justify the panicking."

"Maybe it's finally hit her. She's on XANA's hit list." Drew suggested.

"Or maybe she just really wants to indulge in her girly-girl side."

"Maybe she would like it if you stopped talking about her like she isn't in the room." Stella drowsily added in. "Please pass the popcorn Pete."

Stella received many strange looks. Sakura exchanged a worried look with Riley. Drew was right. This panic attack was turning Stella crackers.

B)

Thankfully, Stella napped thought the rest of lunch. The sleep restored her sanity and level headedness, for the most part. It took Sakura a good 15 minutes to convince Stella to take off the ski mask and to leave the bathroom.

After school was a different story. Stella was up and eager to get to the spa. She was tugging on Sakura's arm slowly dragging her towards the limo.

"Stella, can I ask you something?" Dante asked shutting off his laptop.

Stella and Dante started talking, and Dante presented his theory about the bug messing up her profile being her code Lyoko code. Stella had resented that he thought she couldn't have the code on her own, and XANA had to have given it to her. Plus, why would XANA have given her a good thing when he could have given her a bad thing.

Dante then told her his theory if they removed the bug she would be back to normal on Lyoko. Stella asked how they would go about removing the bug, prickling at the idea. Dante presented his Scyphozoa theory which brought all the energy Stella had been feeling panicking all day and changed it into anger.

Which brings us to Stella spitting out the words, "No, I refuse. I'm drawing the line here. No, no y no!"


	25. Chapter 25

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: The Reason behind the Madness**

"How long are you going to sulk?" Sakura asked Stella.

Stella sighed, "I'm not sulking. I'm just confused and sad. I hurt Dante, and I don't know why. Plus, I feel like a jerk for not trusting him."

"Stella, you said it yourself; it's a bad idea. The Scyphozoa messing with a Lyokoian warrior equals bad news. We don't want you to die."

"Don't want to or can't let me die?"

"Both. C'mon Stella, you know Riley and I would do anything for you. That's why we're in this limo going to a spa after you freaked. Why did you freak anyway?"

Stella sighed and took off her nun hood to run her fingers through her hair.

"Your hair looks fine."

"No, look up!"

Sakura lifted her gaze to Stella's hairline and saw what Stella was pointing at.

"Ooh. How did that happen?"

"I dilly-dallied on getting to set a hair appointment, and well my hair grew."

"Huh," Sakura said as she examined Stella's inch of roots.

"Maybe I should dye my hair blue." Stella mused.

"What? Are you going anymore crackers then you were today?"

"No, but if I dye my hair wild colors it'll be more adventurous then brown."

"You'll stick out more. No, it stay's brown."

Silence reigned in the limo for a while until Stella pulled on a plain white baseball hat that had grey mesh and foam fore head that read, Girly-girl. Sakura smiled in approval and gently clapped her hands.

"Now _that_ looks better. If you'd been calm and had worn that hat, today would have been less stressful then what you made it. I can understand freaking at roots, but you took it a bit too far."

Stella sighed, she's been doing a lot of that lately, and fiddled with the knobs on the limo ceiling.

"I had…a bad dream. A nightmare even. When I woke up it was morning. When I looked in the mirror and saw my roots all the nightmare had shown me came back to haunt me, and I panicked."

Stella sighed again, see? And twiddled her thumbs. Sakura watched her with new concern.

"What was the nightmare about?"

"I can't remember."

After the spa and salon trip: Back in Stella's room

"Manicures are a gift from heaven," Sakura moaned as she examined her nails. Stella snuggled on her Barrett hat, making sure it fit just right. The spa had unwound her nerves and had given Stella time to think.

Her big toes had flowers on them: white petals with a glittering blue nail jewel in the center. Stella wiggled her toes at Sakura. Sakura chunked a pillow at Stella which clipped the hat off her head. All brown hair there.

"Uh!" Stella gave off an indignant/ infuriated verbalized girl gasp. Soon the two were clobbering the other with pillows. A knock came on the door, and the door slowly opened. The fight stopped as the two girls stared at the intruder, Riley.

Riley started to back out of the room, "Oh no you don't." Sakura exclaimed and dragged him in, "You're coming in, and with your little dog to!" she cackled dragging in Drew.

"BOMBARDMENT!" Stella yelled starting a barrage of flying pillows. The guys yelled (guys don't scream [unless it is a really girly scream they yell, so they say), and took cover on the other side of Stella's bed.

Well in five minutes Sakura was clobbering Drew, who was clobbering Riley, who had lost someone to clobber when Stella slipped out of her room and headed for the factory.

O CHIBI! O

Dante was fully absorbed in his work. Something wasn't right with Stella's card. It took longer to load then other cards. Even bugged it shouldn't take that long to load up. The computer was thinking longer then it should. Why would it?  
"Hey," the soft voice brought Dante out of his musing and into reality.

"Is it to late to train?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: Moments Matter **

(Sticky note #1: Dante's eyes turn red when he is angry or he detects an activated tower.)

"Where did you get these monsters?" Stella asked.

Lyoko, the desert region, 4 kankrelats target practice.

"I've discovered I can influence XANA monster behavior. I influenced these four to wait in the desert region after one of our last XANA attacks. Now you're going to take them out."

"Alright…"

The once frozen kankrelats suddenly shuddered to life. Swiveling around, they caught sight of Stella. Charging up their lasers four shots were fired one after another.

A violet light saber flared to life and blocked the shots effectively reflecting two shots back into a kankrelat's XANA's eye.

"You can't be a long range specialist forever Stella. You need to practice your close range battle." Dante spoke. He was sitting on a rock watching the encounter. Stella parried more lasers before replying.

"Says the one who shoots things with lightening." Stella yelled doing a handspring forward shifting instantly into her Drew demi form. As her claws came out and pierced the XANA's eye of another kankrelat. Stella retracted them quickly to twirl (shifting) and brought up two weapons, a fan and a dagger to block the remaining two kankrelats' lasers.

Stella winced as a laser shot hit her. She threw the dagger and the fan. Both hit the two kankrelats.

"Three minutes and fifty-two seconds," Dante intoned. "Better."

"I wish Drew was here." Stella said rubbing her arm.

"Why?"

"With his neat regeneration/healing ability I wouldn't have to sit in the tower until my life points are restored, the whole 10 I am missing. Quick as a snap and two blinks, I'd be healed."

"He certainly lives up to the cat having nine lives ability." Dante said as he noticed Stella looking at him intently. "What?"

As quick as a snap and two blinks several morning stars and kunai were being thrown at him. Dante jumped dodging the attack and landed with his back to Stella.

"What are you doing?"

Stella didn't reply as she flicked the whip trying to hit Dante. He dodged the blow.

"Stella," his voice had a steely quality to it.

"Yes," her voice had a playful note in it.

"What are you doing?"

"Experimenting,"

She was in her Drew demi form now preparing to fire laser arrows.

"What's the experiment?" Dante asked. He had a pretty good idea what it was.

"Can you be devirtualized?"

"Do we have to experiment with this now?"

"Yes."

"Stella." His voice had a warning note undertone in it. "Don't."

Stella hesitantly dropped her arm and shifted back to her regular form.

"Get in the tower."

"Okay." Stella sounded a bit dejected, but trudged toward the tower.

"Laser arrow!"

A roar echoed across Lyoko. "STELLA!"

(-:-)

"Moments matter."

Sakura looked at her brother in shock. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It's an answer to a question you asked a long time ago right when Stella moved into the dorm. Well, I have an answer. Moments matter. There will be time in between XANA attacks when we aren't in transition to the next one or dealing with the last one, and what we do during those moments matter. XANA understands that. He spent decades locked up in the internet before he was freed and look what he was able to accomplish."

"Nothing?"

"No, a plan. A plan that included his freedom and future."

"So, what are you trying to do besides confuse me?"

Riley gave his sister a sharp look. "What we are doing now in looking after and training Stella matters. School matters. This moment matters. Don't simply discard it because nothing is happening."

"It has been quiet lately. I mean just the regular routine, wake up, go to school, train Stella, do homework, eat sometime, go to bed, and repeat." Drew spoke up from beside Riley.

"Yes, but the routine matters. At least now we're getting a break. It could be: get up, go to school, and get killed by XANA." Riley answered.

"No, that's Stella's routine. As a group ours is: get up, got to school, save the world." Sakura replied before letting go of the stuffed animal she was clutching and headed for the door.

"C'mon Riley. You promised to spar with Stella. She was looking forward to a light saber duel and if moments matter then that duel matters. Let's go."

(-:-)

"Stella, get down from there." Drew called from the first level of the tower platform.

"No, you're scary when you're mad."

"I'm not angry."

"Really?"

"Not anymore,"

"…"

"What?"

"I don't know how to get down… Why are your eyes red?"

(-:-)

"Whoohoo! We're here!" Sakura said into the microphone as Drew pulled up the Lyoko screen.

"Sakura, give me the mike."

"No, I want to talk to Stella and Co. Stella, whatcha doin'?"

"You've been acting unnaturally happy lately. Why?"

/"It's 'cause she has a crush."/ cackled Stella's voice over the mike.

"Really," Riley smirked, "Anyone I know?"

Sakura blushed, "N-no, and drop it. Who says I have a crush on anyone."

/"Your diary."/

"My WHAT?!!"

Drew was looking at Sakura strangely. Sakura blushed a deeper crimson, "What?"

Drew turned away and shrugged, "You just didn't strike me as the type."

"What type?"

"The type to have a crush on a guy."

"What's that supposed to meant?!"

"I figured you'd fall for monsters like Dracula or Frankenstein. Both are entirely different species…like you."

Riley grabbed Sakura and had to forcibly restrain her from killing Drew.

"C'mon sis, let's go to Lyoko now to cool off."

"When you're next on Lyoko Drew, you're dead! DEAD! You hear me?"

Drew turned back to the computer, "Touchy."

Sticky Note #2: (yes you must read it readers [especially Lyokolady)

LOVE takes time to develop. Crushes (infatuation, puppy love, my own description, the love bug syndrome …) are irrational and almost instantaneous. If that is not enough explanation here's this: I am the authoress and this is for the sake of the story.

And no, the crush is not Drew. Happy Reading!


	27. Chapter 27

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: More then it seems **

Sakura dropped down onto the desert floor muttering. Stella watched her with a smug look on her face. Let the pestering of Sakura begin.

"I remember him. We met on that fateful day where we were chased by lions, tigers, and bears. You fell for him, I could see it then."

"B-be quiet."

"I'm disappointed to be quite frank. I expected someone quite different."

"Drop it Stella, please."

It was the please that got her. It almost sounded like Sakura was begging with her to call off the teasing. Stella had wised up a long time ago about when to stop being annoying. This was one of those times.

The ground beneath them shook and a pulsing wave of circles moved below and away from them.

"What was that?" Sakura asked watching the pulse go. It was followed by another one.

Stella had the answer, "I've read about these in the old data logs. It's the energy moving along the metal cords that string the platforms together. They're pulsations. They signify there's an active tower."

"Drew? Riley? Is anyone there? C'mon, isn't there someone up there that wants to tease me?"

"Why are the guys never on Lyoko when we need them?" Stella asked.

"I don't know," Sakura shrugged. "I guess it's up to us to deactivate the tower, huh."

"It looks like it." Stella muttered. Another set of pulsations rocked the ground.

"Onward run!" The two girls set out to track the pulsations.

**- X **  
"You can't make me eat your cooking!"

"Alright you two, communications have been severed from Lyoko to Earth. I'm sending you guys to Lyoko to make sure the girls are okay." Dante said. "Aren't you coming?" Drew asked. Riley was silent.

"After we get those two off. A towers active, but I want those two off Lyoko."

"Why don't you go and have Drew materialize the girls. He can work all the programs, plus it'll save time if we get you to Lyoko now instead of waiting." Riley interjected. He didn't trust him. Dante came out of the scanners shortly after Sakura went into hers. Dante had been acting a bit off since then. Riley didn't trust him to leave him back on earth with everyone else on Lyoko.

Dante shrugged and strode towards the elevator. Riley drew Drew aside for a quiet final command before leaving to join Dante in the elevator.

"Get the girls out of there."

**: - # **  
"See, I've even taped my mouth shut!"

"Sakura, Stella I'm bringing you in. Stella get to a tower."

Sakura and Stella slowed their running and game of chase the pulsations.

"Drew, we're in the middle of nowhere in the desert region. What's the rush?"

"Orders, ma'am, just following my orders. Riley and Dante are virtualizing to join you."

"You mean Riley right?" Stella corrected.

"Nope, I'm in the process of materializing both Riley and Dante."

"That's impossible, Dante never left Lyoko. He went to check on some monsters of his he influenced in the forest sector. He didn't go back to earth."

"Well obviously he did, or he wouldn't be materializing next to you in the next five seconds."

"Unless…" Stella's voice petered out.

"Unless I'm not Dante," came a metallic voice.

Fear suddenly froze and chilled Stella to the bone. XANA had sent in a polymorphic clone. She was going to die.


	28. Chapter 28

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: Concerning Crabs and Mega tanks **

Run, hide or fight. Run, hide, or fight. If Stella ran the clone could long range her. If she hid like she should, could, and would, she'd avoid him for a little while, but the tower wouldn't be deactivated.

Fighting… fighting was out of the picture, and question. One hit from that thing equaled a one hit K.O. She'd be dead in less then a snap and two blinks.

The tower. If she could deactivate it, she'd be safe. Plus, it wouldn't be able to hurt Riley or Sakura.

_You've trained for this, girl. You've worked your little tail off, so you would be able to fight. Do something._

As Riley and Sakura moved in on the clone diverting his attention, Stella faded into the scenery no longer visible to all, except the computer which could prove to be a bad thing.

**ROFL **

Recipes obstruct fire laws

Dante twitched. There was a polymorphic clone on Lyoko. And the scyphozoan was in transit to the desert sector. He had not told it to do that. He respected Stella's wishes. If she did not want to try the experiment then he wouldn't push/force/blackmail her into doing it even if it was for her own good. He would have to find a different way to debug her. Dante hadn't talked to the octopus leech in years. It was acting on higher orders then his.

He had to go deactivate that tower.

Dante twitched again when he sensed the twenty crabs surrounding him. He was tempted to groan in frustration. He had a blockade on his hands.

Dante slowly turned and took in his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of the juncture where two paths met in the forest region (a four way stop. He's smack dab in the middle). On every path he could turn to choose were five crabs.

His eyes were a crimson red. They held a challenge. _Just try to stop me._

**GMTA **

Get me the antacids

Behind her was the sound of metal clanging against metal. Stella skidded to a halt and in shock reappeared to all visible eyes on Lyoko. Mega tanks, three of them, were visible in the clearing she had just entered. _I made a mistake._ All the mega tanks turned and focused on Stella.

Stella wished she could disappear. Lucky for her she could. Stella faded from the mega tanks sight. That didn't stop the mega tanks from starting a methodical search for her, which included shooting the immediate area to pieces.

**IMHO **

I make hopeless omelettes

Drew had a headache, "This is not good." Sakura was fighting the doppelganger. Scratch that, Sakura was devirtaulizing, and Riley was fighting the doppelganger. Stella was dodging mega tanks blasts unable to move further along the path to safety.

"She needs help," Drew muttered. He hunched over the keys starting a program.

"Dante what's your status?"

On Lyoko in the forest region with Dante

"Very busy and annoyed," Came the terse growl from Dante. It was more like a snarl. He was very annoyed. Dante did not show much emotion if any. When he did dabble into emotion it tended to end in disaster.

Hallie was a good example as to why he shouldn't open himself up to emotion. But she wasn't the only reason. If he got angry and lost control… it would be very bad. He could turn into his father if he let his anger get the best of him. He would be a destroyer.

He couldn't let that happen. So no emotion but if any very little and in controllable amounts. _Hallie_, the thought of the pink-haired green-eyed daughter of Jeremy and Aelita Belpois saddened him. His eyes flickered from red to onyx then back to red.

Dante shook himself. There he went again being sentimental. He had other things to worry about.

A doppelganger with a one hit k.o. hit, the three mega tanks circling a particular area of the desert region, and a one hit potential k.o on a previously inexplicably freaked out brunette who didn't know when to stay in a tower for her life. Not to mention the scyphozoa and the activated tower.

**LOL **

Lots of leftovers

Stella charged a mega tank. What an unfair disadvantage on Riley if three mega tanks decided annihilate him just because he's a Lyoko warrior. _I'm going to do something extremely stupid. I'm going to get yelled at for my lack of common sense, but hey, what can man do to me?_ The mega tank opened to start powering up a pulse laser blast when Stella became visible and stabbed it through the eye with a dagger.

"I don't know why you things insist on making my life miserable, but here I am. Come and get me!" Stella yelled before running further down the path towards the tower fully visible to all who could see her.

**WTG **

Want the gopherloaf?

Sakura could have killed Stella right there, "Are you insane? Are you trying to get killed?"

"I'm immortal until my time," Was Stella's only response. On the computer readout of Lyoko two fast moving objects pursued the not so fast Stella.

On Lyoko

The two mega tanks were on her tail, as planned. That way they couldn't gang up on Riley. _Please let Riley K.O. the clone. K.O. it. K.O. it. K.O. it._ The mega tank couldn't shoot here, at least not before Stella would hear it, hopefully.

(-:-)

_Stella, you idiot!_ Dante silently fumed at the stupidity of the brunette. She was practically asking to die. _Well we can't have that._ A mega tank had sent a rippling communiqué as close to blood lust as a machine can get about a running strange colored target with black hair, white skin, and strange silver eyes.

Dante, for the moment, ignored the crabs remaining, two, and reached out across the regions to the area Stella was running toward with his mind. After sending a mental command to that area Dante refocused on his present situation. Dante formed an axe from the crackling red energy at his disposal. Dante hacked through the legs of a crab before falling a decisive blow across the XANA's eye. In less then a minute no more obstacles remained in Dante's path to returning to the Desert region.

So he had to go on foot to cross the regions, but this way Stella had a way to outrun all potential dangers.

(-:-)

"Hit the deck!"

Stella immediately threw herself onto the ground. Skidding forward a few feet Stella came to a rest in front of a black hover board.

Drew waved at her before leaping at the closest mega tank. With a lethal snik, wolverine like claws sprouted from between his knuckles and slashed through the first XANA's eye he came into contact with.

Glancing up Stella saw a horizontal beam retract from the space above her head, where her torso would have been if she was standing. The beam of orange light retracted back to the second still inexistence mega tank. Stella got up and climbed on the hover board.

_Thank you_

Stella zoomed off towards the tower.


	29. Chapter 29

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: The pieces come together**

Light sabers spun swirling around and clashing with the opponents. Riley was facing a doppelganger XANAfied version of himself. It had dark black Jedi robes, just about black everything. Riley's green light saber once again met the doppelgangers red one. The doppelganger had shockingly white hair and yellow eyes with XANA's mark proudly stamped for a pupil.

Riley had been expecting a light saber duel, but with Stella not himself, per say. Riley had been suspicious of the Dante proved doppelganger shortly after it came out of the scanner. Riley had briefly glimpsed movement in the forest region while dragging his steamed sister to the elevator. The pieces hadn't connected. Why would Dante be in the forest region and then suddenly back on earth right when communications went down so he said. Plus Dante was frostier and more stoic then norm.

Well, he had been right and if his guess was correct none of the girls, with the exception of Sakura, were off of Lyoko. And knowing Stella she would do something incredibly unwise and totally lacking common sense in order to be heroic and to prove she can take care of herself.

So when the clone devirtualized Sakura (she hesitated to land the final and only blow in the match when the clone changed its appearance to look like a younger version of their mom. The doppelganger seized the moment) Riley was the only thing that stood in its path from getting to Stella. He would hold this thing of as long as possible if he couldn't kill it.

(-:-)

Drew chased after the mega tank. He had one goal right now: kill the mega tank. Bit it kept _running away_. Every now and then it would fire on him, but it kept going away from Stella and the tower. If Drew didn't know any better he would say he was being played a fool by a hunk of machinery.

"Stop running and fight like a man or a machine you pawn of XANA. Sheesh."

(-:-)

Sakura looked out over the world of Lyoko keeping track of every person's movement. Dante was being slowed down by wave after wave of monsters in the forest region. Riley was keeping the doppelganger in check and busy. Drew, _Drew_ the annoying blond that _loved_ to make her life _miserable_, was chasing after a mega tank.

Sakura looked at the scattered out dots and looked at Stella's location. She was all alone. She could handle herself, yes, but everyone was so strung out on Lyoko there would be no one to help her if she needed it.

A flashing XANA tagged dot came into view on the screen. Sakura clicked on it, and it all started to make a terrible sense.

Divide and conquer. What better way to get to Stella when she didn't have anyone to back her up. What better way to hurt a person when they're all by themselves with no one to help them up if they fall.

XANA monsters were keeping Dante in the forest region. Riley was holding off the doppelganger or more likely the doppelganger was keeping Riley distracted. The mega tank was leading Drew on a merry chase far away from the tower, and Sakura was devirtualized, stuck on earth.

And the Scyphozoa was heading in a direction suspiciously toward the activated tower. Sweet nibblets, XANA was playing them the fool this time.

Sakura grabbed the mike and relayed a quick message for all of Lyoko to hear.

"Stella, I don't care if you want to deactivate the activated tower or not, the next tower you see you are going to go in side and stay there. In fact if you turn north 28 degrees you'll find one."

If she didn't she was going to walk into a trap.


	30. Chapter 30

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: The noose tightens **

No response.

"Stella, answer me. Get inside a tower!"

Still no response. As if in response to Sakura's panicked commands Stella's profile popped up on the screen with a red exclamation mark flashing over it. Sakura groaned in frustration.

"Dante, Stella's card is acting up. She can't hear me, and I think its XANA. Stella's heading for a trap."

Outside the desert way tower on the complete opposite side of the region from where the activated tower was.

Skillets curled around the base of the tower. Dante bravely waded through them. They only hissed in response to his close proximity. That was a good thing considering if it had been any of his friends they would be devirtualized or in Stella's case dead.

He hadn't wanted to hear his suspicions confirmed, but from what Sakura told him it was true.

"Where's Drew?"

"Casing a mega tank."

"Riley?"

"Doppelganger."

"…Stella?"

"Two minutes and she'll be at the activated tower."

"Materialize the over bike for me. I'll walk you through the steps. Tell Drew to kill that thing and to follow the pulsations as fast as he can to get to the tower. I'm going to do some doppelganger control."

"Alright, ready."

"Press…"

Elsewhere on Lyoko

_This is really relaxing_. Stella was sitting on the black hover board occasionally shifting her weight to turn. It was smooth sailing. The pulsations had led into a rock outcropping. Stella was currently moving through a passage surrounded by tall desert walls. It was a long passage; a one way in to the clearing that held the tower. One way in, one way out. The perfect place for an ambush.

Stella sailed into the clearing and was met with an activated tower and four crabs. A crab opened fire. Stella dodged it, but not before the hover board was knocked out from under her. Stella tumbled to the ground and skidded a few feet. She could feel the lost life points, but then that didn't matter. Getting in that tower mattered. Deactivating it mattered.

Stella quickly shifted into her Sakura demi and withdrew her weapons. All she needed was to get rid of one of those crabs, and she'd be able to get inside the tower.

Stella squealed as a pointy crab leg tried to pierce her. She dodged and slashed at one of the crab legs with a dagger. The crab wobbled as one of its legs disappeared. It proceeded to shoot at Stella, missing, and fell.

Stella barely managed to avoid the crab, falling to the ground and rolling. Consequently, because of her trying to avoid an untimely death by a crippled crab, Stella ended up rolling away from where her daggers landed on the ground when she fell.

Stella tried to get up, but was slammed back down to the ground by a pointy crab leg. _I'm not speared, skewered, or seeing any long tunnels with a light at the end of it, so why are they holding me?_

Stella struggled to wiggle out of the crabs' lockdown, but to no avail. Even when she flickered in and out of visible sight, and shifted, she wasn't let up.

Sighing, pinned with her arms beneath her, Stella moodily glanced across the ground towards a wall confused. Who knew how much time passed between then and the moment when she saw translucent tentacles.

XXXXX

"Drew, Dante, Riley! Get your little patookies over to that tower! Stella's having the life sucked out of her!"

XXXXX

All across the desert region the cavalry rushed to make it to the tower before it was too late.


	31. Chapter 31

**Episode 2: Dying to Live: Taking the unknown **

It was the strangest most peculiar sensation Stella had ever felt. Memories streamed across her vision, her mental vision that is. There she was with her parents. Mom smiled so prettily then. She'd been so sad lately. Worry was etched across her mom's brow more often now then happiness. She tried to hide it, but she couldn't, not completely.

_Mommy, don't be sad._

That…thing. It was probing her mind. Searching it. _For what?_ The thing hissed. The probing seemed to have a reverse effect. Stella wondered if maybe, just maybe, she could probe this thing to.

It happened simultaneously. Stella reached, and the intruder did…something. It latched on and tugged. Stella withdrew immediately and mentally began a struggle of tug a war with the Scyphozoa to keep whatever it was trying to take.

It broke, splintered, shattered. It was like it had been cut through. Stella felt herself falling back, and the intruder was jerked out of her mind. Stella was left reeling for something to grab onto when she fell back into reality.

XOXOXO

Riley felt a wave of relief wash over him as Stella looked up at him with sleepy/confused eyes.

"Do near death experiences run in the family?" she groggily asked him. Riley extended an arm, and Stella took it. Behind them the tower's aurora shifted back to blue. Drew was standing a bit aloof off to the side. They both had tried to kill the Scyphozoa, but sadly they couldn't. Drew was out of laser arrows plus the Scyphozoa retreated faster then a piglet being chased on May Day. Both males had been relieved when that thing dropped Stella shortly after a pair of wolverine claws sliced through it.

Dante had walked Sakura through the materializing of the vehicles. After the pick up, all the guys had raced toward the tower. Riley had successfully killed the doppelganger slicing it in half, and hitched a ride with Dante to the tower. All the guys had arrived together. Dante had dismounted red eyes blazing fire. Drew and Riley felt the exact same way. Lightening bolts and a light saber had been used to destroy the guards guarding the leech and Stella.

Stella clutched onto Riley's arm as her head spun. Something was…missing. It was gone. Her head was light; her ears were pierced by a high pitched tone. Her eyes swam with multicolored lights. She was nauseous and fatigued. She felt sick.

_Great, I'm so special I get sick on Lyoko._

Stella pushed herself away from Riley and took two shaky steps watching the world spin as she did a systems check. Legs: moving. Arms: attached. Head: aching. Torso: holding all my vital organs save my brain. Codes: Stella mentally ran a check on her codes. Four fluttery balls of light flitted through her minds eye. Good they were safe. All four of them.

Wait, four? _Shouldn't I be surprised that I have four codes?_ Stella thought a bit. _No. Should I tell the others?_ Stella looked at her friends. They were all watching her. She didn't like the attention. No siree the spotlight was not for her. _Maybe later when they've calmed down. _

"You know what? I'm just going to go into the tower now." Stella turned around and saw a very scary looking Dante. She giggled nervously and faded out of sight. The tower behind Dante rippled.

_I'm alright so far, but what gives? What did I lose?_

XOXOXO

Back on earth

Stella chuckled nervously, "Uh, hi?"

"What were you thinking?! Running away all by your self? You could have been killed, and by running away you made yourself a target! Are you nuts?" The verbal lashing into Stella has started courtesy of a concerned Sakura.

Stella could feel a hint of tears coming. Curses! She didn't need to cry here of all places. Yes, she could have died, but she didn't. Yes, it was a stupid thing to do, but she had been doing what she thought was the wisest (okay, probably not the _wisest_) course of action, but it was all she could do. It wasn't her fault she was all by herself. No one had stuck with her. They had all been distracted. _It's not my fault!_

Stella just hung her head and let her hair hid her eyes.

"Sakura," Riley tried to speak.

"Of all the idiotic most common senseless things you could have done did you have to let Scippy get you?"

"Sakura," Riley tried again.

"Stella why can't you just do as you're told?!" raged Sakura. Unknown to her she had hit a very tender spot on the bulls-eye with that last comment inside of Stella.

(("No, you can't go to Kaddic High."

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous. Just stay safe and do as you're told.))

Drew grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her away from Stella.

"Stop it, you're making things worse." Drew silently commanded her.

Sakura glared at Drew.

"I know you're upset, but lashing out at her or anyone won't make you feel better."

Sakura glared at him and slapped him with a sharp resounding smack. Sakura turned on her brother whom she could tell was about to give her another lecture. She drew herself up in a huff and dug right into him.

"I don't want or need your patronizing Mr. High and Mighty Leader."

Dante could have ordered a pack of skillets to attack them. That was how displeased he was with their coping behaviors to near fright and terror. This was a prime example of why emotions were a bad thing. It left people capable of hurting and lashing out destroying people senselessly. On the outside, no, they weren't hut, but a few well placed barbs could destroy anyone internally. Before he could say a few words to douse there anger he was stopped surprisingly by Stella.

"Stop it! Just stop it." The trio and Dante turned to look at Stella. A wet streak traced down her cheek. "You guys aren't fixing anything, and you're making me feel guilty for causing this ruckus. Yes, I know I made stupid decisions, and I half expected this scolding, but you guys need to stop tearing into each other. You guys are worse then XANA when it comes to hurting people. Just stop it!"

(':') I have nothing against reviews. I welcome constructive critiscm and comments. Talk to me.


	32. Chapter 32

**LIMBO**

Needless to say the elevator ride and walk back to the school was a silent one. The mood about the group was cold and guilty for the next few weeks.

Stella avoided the group for the next three days. She wasn't mad at them. She just felt guilty for causing all the resentment that was bubbling around the group. She didn't entirely feel like seeing anyone in the group. Dante drew the line after the fourth day of silence and went to talk to Stella. No one knows how he coaxed her out of her silence, but at the end of the week she was showing signs being back to her regular hat obsessed self.

Sakura and Stella had somewhat made up –enough that Stella would tease Sakura about her crush on Eric and try to set the two up (or at least leave Sakura in Eric's presence fumbling for words).

But the attitude Sakura showed Drew rivaled an ice queen's. In fact that was Drew's new nickname for her. Stella had taken to tap hitting Drew for Sakura because Sakura refused to touch him. It was more of a warning that one of the two were close to crossing a line, and that they should drop it.

Riley and Sakura had patched up whatever was needed after the spat they had. Unfortunately, considering the trio's overall friendliness it was a bit strained. Sakura and Drew just couldn't get along. It wasn't like before with there good natured bantering. It had turned purely venomous. It reminded Stella of a description out of her father's journal that described Ulrich, Odd and Sissy relations. Cruel.

Fall rolled past and winter drew closer along with the dark clouds of exams that hung over the heads of all students. It was not so surprising that XANA chose this dreaded period as one of his opportune moments to attack.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33: **

"Halloween is here!" cried Stella in enthusiasm. She was dressed in a cute angel costume with wings. She was enthusiastically gripping her pillow case already half filled with candy while prancing about the neighborhood street.

Dante was a vampire, Riley a knight, Drew a mummy, and Sakura was…well…

"Aw, your costume is so pretty Sakura-chan!" Stella was happily circling Sakura. She was excited. You could tell because she added in a Japanese term of endearment used with close girl friends. Sakura was a witch.

"It suits you." the cameramen (a mummy coughDrewcough) called. "It matches your personality perfectly."

The Stella on camera screen sighed in sync with the one watching the video of the Halloween Night. The Sakura onscreen shot the camera a death glare. The real life Stella smiled wistfully at the video camera before stopping the video and handing it back to its own, Drew.

"I'd thought you two had made up after that night. Or at the very least had stopped hurling insults."

Drew made a noncommittal noise, and took the camera back, "More or less."

Stella grabbed Riley's pillow and sat on Drew's bed as he tuned back to his work.

"Oh, come on. You, Sakura, Drew and Riley are the only ones who really remember that night, the night of enchantment." It has come to the surface. Stella is digging for information.

"So what, Halloween's always creepy. A bunch of people turned into whatever their costume was, big whoopy-di-do-ha."

"Big chaos, huge chaos, MASSIVE chaos, and I missed it! I could have flown, and I don't even _remember_ it! All I know about what went down on Halloween is what you guys have told me and what I've seen on the camera and that Scippy drained me, again.

Drew frowned. He was in his dorm room with Stella. He was fiddling around with video equipment. Riley was out playing one on one basketball with Sakura. Stella had dropped in to talk.

"All that night proved was that the return to the past is a very useful feature to have on the super computer, and that wandering around Sector 5 isn't healthy for your brain." Drew said trying to untangle a bird's nest of wires.

"And the only reason we have this video is because when someone gave you some helpful advice you knew to look past your anger and resentment and hurt long enough to take the advice. You should stop being mean to her, you know."

The silence enveloped the room. Stella was fiddling around with the features on her razr cell phone while Drew briefly stopped untangling the cords. Stella was right in a sense. If he hadn't listened to Sakura's idea to save the video onto the super calculator's restricted files they wouldn't have the video to this day weeks after.

"You could try being nicer to her or at least civil. Politeness isn't dead, and girls love chivalry. You'll catch more flies with honey then vinegar."

Drew looked up at Stella, "Are you implying something?"

Stella smiled and shook her head, "Nope, not a thing. Why, did you think I was implying something?"

Drew nearly gulped. _Don't mess with Stella when she has that evil Sakura glint in her eye._ The main reason of the condition of Sakura's and Drew's _relationship_ was based on two things: Sakura's slap (which Drew took to something akin to rejection) and Eric. For some reason that guy just rubbed Drew the wrong way. Drew shook it off.

"What's your dad been working on lately?" Stella looked up from her phone to ask the question. Odd Della Robbia had been considered the next Spielburg ever since he hit Hollywood 20 years ago with his modified and plot sound: Honey, I think our guest is a ghost. His movie acclaim and fame had risen after that first success.

"He mentioned something about making a Dracula movie in the next five years possibly, yours?"

"Haven't heard from him."

"Really? That's odd. Riley talked to him two days ago."

"Anyway," Stella hastened to change the subject. "What about your video projects?"

Drew finished untangling the cords and sifted through the CD cases.

"Nothing, that's what I have, I've been to busy late with the XANA attacks."

Drew had lied though. It wasn't that he didn't have a project that he was working on. He did; it was just one he didn't want to share. Dante wasn't the only one keeping secrets from people. Drew was too.

Stella drooped and moped hugging Drew's pillow, "Yeah, Riley and Sakura won't let me on Lyoko. Not after Halloween. This is disappointing. I thought I was onto something in Sector 5 like an important discovery for the group."

Drew let out a short bark of laughter, "Is that so surprising? Scippy has drained two-thirds of your shifting ability. The only person you can shift or sub shift into (demi form) is Riley's Jedi form."

"I can't remember Halloween to save my life. If I could I would pencil it down and narrate it for all who care to listen. Did you know Dante is a Lyokian?"

Drew slightly paused in rifling through his CD's and blinked. So Dante finally told her. Wait, Lyokian? Shouldn't it be more along the lines of, "Did you know Dante is XANA's son and successor to the world once XANA conquers it?"

Never mind, Dante was easing her into the truth. He'd better tell her soon before she finds out and gets mad at him for deceiving (lying) her.

"But I still wonder. Can Dante be devirtualized?" Drew stopped and pondered Stella's question.

"I don't know. I've never seen him being shot to death. You should ask Riley or Sakura. They've been in the group longer then I have." Drew replied.

Stella grinned, "I bet he can. It probably takes a special way to do it though. I'll keep looking and (evil grin) experimenting."

Stella slid off of Riley's bed where she had been sitting and turned to leave. She paused half way out the door.

"Please at least try."

With that parting request Stella gently closed the door. Drew knew what she was talking about. His attitude toward Sakura.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34:**

Sakura warily eyed the blonde as he crossed the courtyard to his friends the following morning. _Shields up and have a witty retort in hand to shoot down whatever he throws at me._ Sakura spaced out momentarily. _How did this happen? When did we become such bitter enemies?_ Oh yeah. _I slapped him, and it went downhill from there._

"Yo, Sakura, you okay?"

Sakura blinked in surprise. Drew had said that. There wasn't an insult in that entire sentence. _Who is this person and what has he done with Drew?_

Sakura turned her full attention on Drew, "That actually sounded civil."

Drew shrugged, "I don't insult people all the time. Only the ones who deserve it."

Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion._ Did he just indirectly insult me? Oh just drop it girl. He's being nice for the first time in weeks, or at least civil._

Stella nudged Sakura in the ribs, "Prince Chaarrming is coming over here."

Sakura's eyes widened. She'd been very aware about Eric's location in the courtyard since she entered, but him coming over here? Sakura felt all her courage and self confidence get flushed down the toilet. That's the one thing she didn't like about having crushes. She became as weak as a kitten when said crush was around.

Eric was coming closer, and Sakura suddenly noticed all her friends were gone. She was alone.

_Kami-sama HELP!_

(O)

Stella having successfully pulled Dante, Drew, and Riley out of the immediate vicinity of the love sick teen (no easy task there) and was happily peering at Eric's and

Sakura's encounter via binoculars. Drew had become extremely irritated to the utmost when he heard the first reference to Eric. He was becoming snippy and snappy especially towards Stella who had pulled him away from Sakura.

"Why do you do that?" he asked her.

Stella cocked her head at him with a question in her eyes, "Watch them with binoculars?"

"No, tease her like that." Drew was silently fuming at the sight in front of him. Sakura seemed pinker then usual. He ripped the binoculars out of Stella's hands causing her great whiplash since the strap was around her neck. He could feel the evil glares being delivered by Riley and Dante. He didn't care. He just needed to know why Sakura was so pink. _I'm the only one who can make her blush._

Drew scowled. Eric was heading into forbidden territory. His territory.

"I have to. Your teases have grown into insults."

Drew frowned. What he would give to hear the conversation front of him.

"That tells me nothing." Drew testily said giving Stella a harsh side glance. He jolted in surprise. What was that piece of equipment? Where did it come from?

Stella was wearing headphones and pointing a cone shaped microphone in the direction of where Sakura and Eric were standing. She was nodding her head and murmuring a silent commentary to herself about what was going on.

"How are you—?"

"Dante,"

That one word spoke thousands.

Stella shot Dante a beaming smile. It was bright enough to illuminate an entire power outed New York and power all electricity needs for a good week. Dante just nodded.

"And to answer why, it's because you two are fighting." Stella took off her headphones and stowed them in her messenger bag with the microphone. Stella turned her full attention on Drew.

"Ever since the deterioration of your friendship began I have had to be you for Sakura, the playful friendly teasing, and I had to be Sakura for you, the hitting you. At least I strove to be you for her and her for you to the best of my ability. It's extremely exhausting to pretend to be someone you aren't, and if you two would just kiss and make-up I wouldn't have to be you for her or her for you and both of you could be each other for each other and everyone would be happy, savvy?"

Drew paused. He got it, at least he hoped so. Stella took a quick look at Sakura and smiled softly.

"I think she has a date."

This rocked Drew's world, "Wait, what? How can you tell?"

Stella smiled secretly. It was in Sakura's smile, her happily dazed expression, and inability to move from where she was rooted to her spot even when the warning bell rang.

Sakura seemed too partially become aware of her surroundings and she walked over to them still somewhat dazed.

"Well?" Stella asked eagerly.

"He asked me out on a date." Sakura said with a far away look in her eyes.

"And?" Stella asked.

"I said yes."

Stella squealed and wrapped the shell shocked Sakura in a tight hug. Drew was shocked to. Sakura had…a date.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35:**

Biology

Stella winced as a wet rolled up piece of paper (officially dubbed the spit wad, spitball) hit her neck. _Ignore, ignore, ignore._ Stella furiously pound out that one word into her brain, mentally of course. Steven was acting up again.

_KILL HIM!_ A small devil (that looked oddly like her) on Stella's left shoulder roared, flames were in her eyes. It had appeared in a swirl of flames. Stella blinked at…her. It. Psycho Stelly.

_No, no. You must control yourself and turn the other cheek. Repay evil with good._ An angel Stella look alike popped up on her right shoulder. Stellar Angel, I dub thee.

_Great, I have Krunkitus. As if things could get any worse. SHOO!_

Both Stella's, Pyscho Stelly and Stellar Angel disappeared. Stella sighed in relief and turned back to her book work (bleagh!). Another spit wad hit her. This time on the behind her ear. Hello Pyscho Stelly and Stellar Angel.

Stella was so busy shooing the two away and trying to snap out of her mental delusions that Stella wasn't paying attention to Mr. Blackwall's lecture.

"Today we will be studying pheromones and there irresistible effect on the opposite gender…"

Class flew by for Stella, quicker then anticipated. In fact Stella was so deep in her thought concentration she didn't realize class was over until half of the passing period was over. When she came in tune with reality and the huge possibility, the high probability that she could in fact be tardy for her next class she panicked.

A spitball awakened her to the real word and after a terse exchange of vehement words with Steven she fled the room running into a counter in her haste. It was one of those you hit your knee so hard you can't walk straight without pain for a good 15 minutes. It was that jarring of a thud. Stella had to limp run to her next class completely oblivious to the chaos she helped cause, or the breaking glass.

Stella wrapped Drew's jacket closer around her. Her Biology class was always freezing so Drew let her borrow his jacket. She had made it to English on time, barely. She zipped the jacket up to the limits of the zipper and huddled down in her seat. The air conditioner was blowing right on to her. She sat in the very back of the room with the AC turned up full not just blowing down on her.

_Why do they need the AC on in the middle of _November Stella thought back to the thought process that sent her to LA-LA land in Biology. Stella just had this nagging feeling she would figure out how to devirtualize Dante in Sector 5. She felt that sector 5 contained this information.

This odd fascination of hers seemed to stretch way back into her mind. It stretched toward and into the time frame of forgetfulness where amnesia impaired her memory. She'd always felt like she had known Dante for a long time, since the day of her birth actually. The only thing that contradicted that theory was her memory of her first day at Kaddic High when she met Dante after she jumped out of a tree to antagonize Sakura. Before that day she had no memory of ever meeting Dante, just hunches.

Stella grinning like a maniac happily reveled in the last of few minutes of Biology class before she wounded her self and was nearly late for English. It had been rich. Steven had finally gotten his just desserts. He couldn't leave the classroom until all the other students had left. Since she had been lost in La-La land he couldn't leave. Surprisingly, Eric stayed behind also to watch the fireworks or bomb shells.

The bell rang. Stella was startled. The class was over? Was time going by faster or was she losing her mind?_ Oops, I think it spaced out again._

(O)

"Lunch!" Stella happily plopped her tray of raviolis on the table. She noticed first 1.) Drew's murderous expression and 2.) The missing presence of Sakura.

"Where's Sakura?" she asked. Drew just continued glaring. Stella followed his gaze. A flock of girls were surrounding a table in the lunchroom.

"She's…a fan girl? Stella hesitantly asked.

Drew gritted his teeth and left the table disappearing outside the cafeteria. Stella was all alone.

(O)

"Hey, don't push!" Sakura snarled as an elbow slammed into her gut, and she was pushed forward. Honestly, you'd think her boyfriend was a rock star. After finally shoving through the crowd of girls Sakura made it to the table.

"Hi," she said breathless as she smiled at Eric. Eric smiled back. The girls squealed. Sakura winced at the sudden high pitched noise.

"Can I…sit with you?" Eric nodded.

Unfortunately this brought on fan girl cries of, "Can **I** sit with you?"

"No, me! Pick me!"

"I love you!"

"Date me!"

"Baboons!"

"Here they come!!!!"

RUN RUN RUN

LOL

Owned.

Okay maybe the last four lines are pure imagination of Sakura's part, but it would be a cool way to chase off the fan girls with rampaging rapid baboons. Her inspiration is once again thanks to my meddling brother.

Sitting next to Eric was a slightly familiar guy. Stella had pointed him out to Sakura. The guy was scowling in disgust from all the unwanted attention.

"You must be Steven." Sakura said to the red head. He scowled at her, "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Oh nothing," _Note to self: Dump salt in his water when he's not looking_. Sakura gave him her "innocent" smile. _It's going to be A LOT of salt._

Sakura wasn't able to chat long. All the girls in the background were very distracting exclaiming over the littlest things.

"I can't believe it! Steven likes PEAS! I LOVE peas from this day forward!"

_What's wrong with them? They're obsessed. Yeah, I knew Eric was on the popular side, but this is ridiculous._

Sakura was able to get some small questions concerning their sudden popularity and found that they were clueless as to what had happened. And then her keeper came. Sakura felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see her brother behind her.

"May I help you?" she asked. How long it took him to make his way through that mob, shudder, Sakura didn't want to know. Riley is truly the patient Stern.

"Stella requires your assistance as a bodyguard."

"What?"


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

On the other side of the cafeteria there was a mob similar to the one surrounding Eric and Steven's table. The only difference was the gender of the mob. The mob surrounding Eric's and Steven's table were all girls. This mob was made up entirely of guys. The entire cafeteria was empty. All the girls were crowded around one table, with the exception of two and all the guys were crowded around another table, with the exception of three.

After Sakura and Riley emerged from the gaggle of giddy girls (their clothing was extremely disheveled at this point). Sakura had a better view of the situation.

"Is that _our_ table they're surrounding?"

Riley nodded his head.

"Stella's in there? Alone? Where were you guys?" Sakura said pointing at the wall of guys. Meaning why did you let that happen. Riley sighed. He didn't like explaining himself to Sakura.

"We were in Dante's room running a scan on towers. Nothing's active, but he has a strange feeling about Lyoko. The scan made us late for lunch. Drew should have been here with Stella, but he has disappeared. When we got here we saw this." Riley gave her an appraising look and put a hand on her forehead.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Sakura slapped the hand away, "I'm fine. I just wanted to talk to my boyfriend."

Sakura turned back to face the group of guys. She rolled her sleeves up in anticipation. "This is going to get messy."

Before she could plunge into the fricassee to extract Stella the group parted like the Red Sea. Dante walked through the cleared path with a pale Stella hiding behind him holding onto his elbow. Stella seeing Sakura and Riley disengaged from Dante and ran to them.

"Hide me." She pleaded, "They're animals! I need to get away from _them_." The last word came out accompanied with a shudder.

She had been eating her raviolis when a guy came over and started acting all macho and cool. It made her think of a male peacock spreading his feathers for all to admire. The one liners started rolling and then another guy came and then another one until she was surrounded unable to escape. All were trying to ask her out.

Stella had felt herself grow meeker and shy and scared until in her place sat a scared big brown eyed 5 year old Stella with a quivering lip trying not to cry from fright. At least that is how she felt emotionally. All this attention was too much.

She was relieved beyond expression when Dante appeared. All it took was a cool stare off and the male in his way would back off. Stella gave him a look that clearly said, "HELP ME!" He rescued her from the peacocks.

Stella had nothing against guys. They were great buddies, and friends and one day far off in the future potential boyfriends, but when they got into the impress the girl mode they were automatically downgraded to microforms that must be avoided at all costs. They scared her, and she didn't know what to do with them. Other then that they were great.

"Hide me from the carnivores. I fear for my sanity around them."

Riley exchanged glances with Sakura. Stella was freaked, obviously. Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Come on, we're going to the one sanctuary girls have from hormone crazed guys. The girl's restroom."

(O)

Conference call in the girl's restroom

"It's so strange. Why would these two groups decide to surround three different people?" Indeed, why?

"They've won the jackpot of instant popularity?" Drew asked.

Sakura tolerated him, "It's more then that. The girls were fawning over Steven and Eric today and when yesterday they were normal guys. They practically were trying to tear off the guys shirts for souvenirs. Plus, Stella isn't popular. She's a very nice person, someone you'd ask to "borrow" a piece of paper of pencil, but not one to instantly become desirable for dates. The guys were salivating over her. And they aren't even respecting the sanctity of the girl's restroom. Their hormones are driving them _bananas_."

"What do you mean by that?" Riley asked.

"Going bananas?"

Drew chastised her, "NO, the not respecting the girls restroom sanctity thing." Stella gritted her teeth and braced herself against the door.

"I mean there is a reason why I have you guys on speaker phone. Currently a crowd of human beings from your gender are trying to break in. Luckily I have back-up."

The guys had trailed the Stella and Sakura as they headed to the bathroom. Some even came out of classrooms. It was as if they could smell Stella and her "attractiveness", which Stella said she lacked.

"Back up?"

"The highest of school authority, the principal."

Indeed coming down the main corridor was a force to be reckoned with, Principal Elizabeth "Sissy" Delmas. She eyed the crowd of guys trying to break into the bathroom. Let the verbal lashings and detention giving start.

"What are you doing?"

Five minutes later

Sakura poked her head out of the doorway. The hall was empty. No males in sight. Sakura exited the girl's bathroom.

"Thanks Principal Delmas."

Sissy nodded. As soon as those guys had finished their ice cold showers they were up for a month of detention.

Stella had climbed out of the bathroom via a window (it was a first story restroom) when approaching heavy footsteps were first heard. Stella had left Drew's jacket for Sakura to give to Drew.

Sakura muttered to herself and the phone, "Guys are hormone crazed less mature, growing nightmares on two legs; that are too cute without any courtesy tucked behind their foreheads." She paused, "With a few notable exceptions." Sakura hung up her call, stuffed Drew's jacket in her backpack, and walked down the empty hall to go to her next class.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37:**

It was the last class of the day, and Stella was wary of any guy that came up and spoke to her. This included her friends.

"What are you doing?" Stella eyed Dante suspiciously. He was touching her hair. Examining it. Dante was rubbing it between his fingers noting the texture.

"You do realize everyone is staring at us, and we're supposed to be playing dodge ball"

Dante continued his examination of her hair undeterred; but for five seconds he dropped his hands, caught a ball, threw it back across the gym nailing the poor kid he hit, and he went back to examining Stella's hair.

"It's brittle, and clumped together. It feels like straw. It's discolored to. It almost looks pink."

Stella's face turned pink in rage, "Are you saying I don't take care of my hair?" she said in a very dangerous tone of voice. "I WASHED it last night!"

Dante coolly replied to the steamed Stella, "I'm not implying anything about your personal hygiene regime. Did you happen to spill or get splashed by any unknown liquid substances?"

Stella froze.

((Flashback))

"I'm gonna be LATE!"

"Ya think, loser?"

Thud. "OW!"

Crash. Shattering glass and running footsteps.

"Hey don't run away. Get this gunk off me!"

((End Flashback))

"Maybe," said Stella evasively not meeting Dante's eyes. Dante grabbed a hold of Stella's damaged hair.

Stella gasped. "What are you doing?"

Dante didn't reply. He made a cutting motion with his index and middle fingers (like scissors). Two inches of hair, brittle straw like hair with some regular healthy hair) fell into Dante's hand.

Stella stared at him in shock. Everyone in the gym stared at him in shock. _He didn't._ It is an unwritten rule that no one breaks and everyone knew. Don't touch the hair. It is not safe to mess with and least of all _cut_ a girls hair without their consent. You will deeply regret it.

"Why?" Stella asked in a shocked/stunned/confused, and in a slightly drama queen like wounded whisper. Dante placed the locks of hair in a Ziploc bag which he tucked in his basketball pants pocket.

"We are going to figure out what exactly was splashed on you. Did it get on any of your clothes?"

Stella glanced sideways and dodged a ball.

"It didn't get on any of _my_ clothes per say."

(/)(\)

Dante had placed a sample of Stella's hair on a microscope slide where it was being examined by the two of them. Mr. Blackwall was at his desk grading papers.

"It's hair Dante, _hair_. This microscope probably isn't powerful enough for whatever you are trying to see."

"It is suffice."

"What are you looking at?" Mr. Blackwall asked. He was monitoring their microscope use. What a great multitasker.

"My hair," Stella answered in a monotone. She wasn't so pleased about her impromptu haircut, "or the stuff on it that caused it to congeal and stiffen."

Mr. Blackwall nodded, "Stella, try to pay attention in class. Your English teacher complained about it, and you caused Steven and Eric to be late for their next class."

"I'm sorry," Stella apologized.

Mr. Blackwall chuckled, "Just don't let it become a regular habit. I had to call your parents."

Stella froze, "You…called my parents?"

Mr. Blackwall nodded, "Yep, I talked to your father also. Good man, he's taking care of that bottle of pheromones you broke."

Stella slowly lost all the color in her face and Dante, who had been listening, spoke up, "Pheromones?"

Mr. Blackwall smiled, "Stella broke a bottle in her haste to leave class. It splashed over her, Mr. Eric Baylor, and Mr. Steven Young. It will most likely make them irresistible to the opposite gender, at least among some species of animals like say, birds."

"Is it possible of it having an affect on humans?" Dante asked.

Mr. Blackwall nodded, "In big enough concentrated dose. It stimulates the hormones of the opposite gender making the one bearing the scent look extremely …appealing. Animals use it to attract mates."

"But in humans?"

"No, we won't go crazy like animals. It will have little to no effect on the human nervous system. A more potent batch, maybe. What spilled, no. No pheromones will turn any human into a mindless zombie."

Famous last words.

(O)

Run! Run, Sakura run!

Sakura vaulted over a hedge and breathed out a sigh of relief as the group of guys ran past her hiding space. This popularity thing was contagious. She must have caught it from Eric or someone.

She peeked over the hedge and checked the surrounding territory. It was clear. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. No obsessed guys chasing her anymore.

"There they are! Get 'em!" came a cry. Sakura froze. _They found me. Wait, them? That voice sounded feminine._

Sakura peered over the hedge; she saw Eric and Steven running for their lives from a mob of girls with hearts for eyes. As the two victims ran past her hiding spot, Sakura reached out, grabbed them, and pulled them over the hedge. The girls ran by oblivious

Eric smile at her, "Thanks."

Sakura slightly blushed, "No problem."

Steven grumbled.

The three peeked over the hedge checking the coast.

"What's wrong with everybody today? With the exception of seven people, including us and excluding the teachers, the school has gone crazy."

Steven turned away from the group and grumbled, "They're losers, hormone driven zombified losers."

Eric shook his head, "That isn't logical. This is the real world not the X-files."

Sakura glanced at him. _You'd be surprised how X-file-ish our lives can tend to be._ She turned to glower at Steven, "You're the loser that shoots spit balls at people during class."

Steven muttered under his breath, "Idiot losers. I mean they really are Hormone Driven Zombified losers."

Sakura turned around and bonked him on the head, "I said you're the loser. We've been over this Captain Obvious." Sakura then noticed the hormone driven zombified losers behind them, and they really were hormone driven zombified losers only they were XANA's hormone driven zombified losers.

"Oh," she said.

"Steven smirked, "Who's Captain Obvious now, loser?"


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38:**

A miffed Stella was walking back to her room with Dante beside her when she first noticed his change in eye color.

"Go," she said in a monotone before disappearing into her room closing the door maybe a bit to firmly. Dante stared at the door until a bark of laughter diverted his attention. Drew walked up to him and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry about Stella. She's just sore that she isn't included on Lyoko missions anymore. She doesn't hate you personally."

"It is not that," Dante said, "that I am worried about."

Drew looked on with interest and burst out laughing when he saw the Ziploc bag containing Stella's hair.

"Go away," demanded a muffled voice from behind Stella's door, "Go deactivate the tower."

Drew settled down, eventually, and patted Dante on the back, "Alright, I was wrong. She hates you."

(-:-)

Stella glared at the door. She had surrounded herself in a nest of pillows, stuffed animals, and blankets. It was quite warm, but not as comforting as she had originally hoped.

They were on Lyoko again, her friends; they were shutting down towers, again, and they were saving the world. What was she doing? Being a complete coward and playing it safe according to orders given by Sakura and Riley. _I don't like being placed in a box to small for me._

(-:-)

XANA, the artificial intelligence program bent on taking over the world. It had a son; a wayward son that XANA planned to become prodigal, but rebellious was XANA's son now. It just had to try to be human. It didn't help it had named itself, Dante, but now it seemed _Dante_ was continuing to express genuine human emotions, deeds, and actions. _Dante_ had spent too much time with the humans starting with the very nanosecond he caught sight of the baby Belpois nearly 15 years ago when XANA brought it to rejuvenate Lyoko in having the baby be its core.

But that brat of the Belpois's was also Dante's weakness. It had affected him 13 years later when the brat was removed from his life. XANA almost had his son back then, but _Dante_ resisted.

That was beneficial. _Dante_ needed steel in him. All the more so he could rule the world with an iron fist when he came into his own. XANA was just going to have to help that maturity, but first all obstacles, and brats, must be completely eradicated.

(-:-)

"How are we supposed to get rid of zombies?" Sakura asked her two acquaintances in terror. Those terrorized together forge an unbreakable bond. The bond of shared terror and the stalkation of fan (insert opposite gender here).

"Stake through the heart, silver bullets, sunlight?" Eric rattled off.

"Those are for vampires, werewolves, and trolls, loser." Steven said barring the gym doors with a broom. "We need salt."

"Salt? Doesn't salt make zombies angry and put them in killer zombie mode?" Sakura asked quizzically.

A vein popped in Steven's head, "I'm not the one who made up the legends, alright. We need salt!"

The door strained to open, but was hindered by the broom, as the weight of zombies were added to it. They were your typical zombies, only they weren't dead. They had one goal in mind: capture the object of their affections.

"Sakura, Eric, and Steven you win. Come and enjoy free torture and decapitation by your zombie admirers." A zombie fan girl, oddly spry, fast and energetic for zombies, had shouted that. Sakura wished drew had been there. He would have had the gusto to give them the cheek by declining. He probably would have said something like, "We'll take a rain check for…never."

_Okay, maybe he would have said something cooler, but…I miss him. I miss our old camaraderie. After this is over…I'll try harder for us to be friends again._

The door shuddered. Sakura turned to Eric and Steven.

"Okay, they can track us, so now matter how fast or far we run they'll catch us, so now what is causing us to be so desirable? What scent do we have?"

Eric looked thoughtful, "By any chance was your sister equally as desirable as us?"

"Meaning if she experienced unexpected popularity, yeah, but what does Stella have to do with this?"

"Everything and maybe nothing. If you weren't also being tracked I could hypothesize that the fluid pheromone that splashed on us in Biology was the cause of this, but I can't. You aren't in our Biology class nor were you present at the splash down."

"Huh?"

"Your loser sister caused us to get splashed when a bottle fell from a cabinet and shattered. The contents splashed on Steven, Stella and I. Your sister didn't even notice it got on her hair and the black jacket she was wearing."

Sakura was taken a back. A black jacket. She started to rifle through her messenger bag. She pulled out Drew's black jacket.

"You mean this jacket?"

The guys took one look at it and nodded.

"So we know what's on us. What's the plan?" Sakura looked eagerly at Steven oh Smart One knowing many superstitious facts. Maybe the grump would know some useful facts.

Steven sighed. Why was he the leader? "We are going to play hide and seek out in the open. Go to your dorms and change into your swimsuits. On the way to and from your dorms, take as long as a route you need, double back, run in circles, ANYTHING! I don't care how silly you think it is you will do it. After you've changed dump your clothes out the window, burn them. I don't care how you do it. Get. Rid. Of. Them. Then meet me in the swimming pool. Got it losers?"

Sakura blinked. Eric chuckled, "Grand, a grand idea. Confusing the enemy. What better way to hide a true tail then with multiply trails of the same scent. How can you tell where the true tail is when the same trail is everywhere? A capital idea."

_Okay, it seems like it's time to act like crazy people. _

(-:-)

Warning due to extreme occupation of the authoresses schedule for the first time since Return My Past: Lyoko the Second Generation has been published there may not be an update until next Thursday evening. (I'm going to Frontliners for my church which is going to take up all my time all day for 5 days.) After the event has passed updates will continue on a daily basis. Thank you loyal readers and especially reviewers.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39:**

"3, 4, 5!" Drew yelled. He called out a number for each kankrelat he shot and destroyed. The ice region was swarming with the little buggers. Riley was part of the competition eloquently skewering, halving, and slicing the kankrelats.

"8, 9, 10 …"

When they stopped the clearing was devoid of kankrelats. Drew pumped his fists in the air. "Yeah, seven baby!"

Riley walked past him ever so slightly smirking. Drew followed him.

"How many did you get rid of?"

"Eleven."

"Awesome! How?"

Riley smirked a very mysterious smirk, "A Jedi never reveals his secrets."

"That's magician you sorcerer."

Dante joined the two. Drew focused on Dante's dark look.

"What's up?"

Dante nodded off into the distance. Drew surveyed the distant parts of the ice sector. "I don't see anything."

Riley pointed at the horizon and looked at the platforms just below it. The platforms were laced with a black network of web. The black marks cut random nonsense paths across the ground. The marks were soaked into the ground. If you went beneath the platform you would see the exact same pattern you saw from a birds eye view above the platform. It was toxic. The silk lines would lay and absorb into the land leaving a thoroughly black mark on the landscape.

"What is that?" Drew asked. The trio of warrior walked closer to the clean edge of the platform to get a better view. Not all the landings were infected yet, but a good majority was.

"XANA's poison. When scanning in a noticed the toxins had grown. It showed up a few days after Halloween. It has been growing steadily ever since. I have been monitoring it, and it is completely most assuredly the work of XANA. By all means. Do. Not. Touch. It."

Drew turned to stare at Dante. Riley raised an eyebrow at him. Dante ignored the looks and went toward the activated tower, which was unfortunately inside the infected area of the ice sector.

The poisoned platforms looked…sick. The normal color was more muted and diluted. The platforms weren't healthy. It had appeared weeks ago. It had started small. Fine black lines had stretched from the tower closest to the way tower. As time passed the lines grew longer and thicker. They reached farther until they connected with another tower. The tower's aura had turned black. From that tower more lines branched out until it reached another tower. And the cycle kept going on and on.

Now, a good three fourths of the ice sector had been infected. The mountain sector was similarly infected, just not to the same extent. The only towers in the infected regions that weren't infected were the way towers, and of course the towers the black lines hadn't infected, yet.

Dante didn't know how; he didn't know why. All he knew was that XANA was infecting the ice and mountain ranges with this toxin, and that XANA was slowly losing usable towers to activate.

Riley alone had been told about this. No one else in the group knew well Drew knew now. Most of the towers activated were in the desert or forest regions. When a tower had activated in the infected region the infection wasn't noticeable from the tower's location.

Lyoko was sick. The mountain and ice regions were infected. The sectors may die, and Dante didn't know how to stop it. The part of it that hurt the most was Dante knew how, or really who could fix it, but they weren't here.

Hallie. Hallie could fix this. She should. The Light and Heart of Lyoko has home ground advantage against XANA on Lyoko and even in Sector 5.

Halinor Belpois rediscovered Lyoko at age 13. When she discovered Lyoko…she met Dante. She had totally accepted who he was as XANA's son saying the father's misdeeds do not condemn the son. She was the first person to accept Dante for who he was, and the first human he had been in contact with in 13 years.

Hallie had inherited many things from her parents concerning Lyoko, and her own unique personality and being which made her all the more dangerous. She was a valuable Lyoko warrior, but…she moved. She left against her own will. Her parents had pulled her out of Kadic Middle, and she had been out of Dante's life ever since. That was two years ago.

Lyoko was Hallie's home turf. Human she was yes, but XANA had a cruel sense of humor bonding Halllie to Lyoko the way he did when she was nothing but a helpless newborn of only a few hours. But once again, Lyoko was Hallie's home turf. You did not want Hallie as your enemy especially on Lyoko. Her scenery changes were wilder then the ones that occurred in Sector 5. If that wasn't enough her energy abilities, wow. Simply put: One hit K.O. She had been trying to track down and destroy the Scyphozoa before she moved.

Hallie and Dante used to spar together using their energy fields. The only person who had ever been able to take her energy attacks without devirtualizing was Dante. Hallie had been so annoyed with this that she actually invented or started inventing a way to devirtualize Dante. When they sparred the two never left a scratch on the other, but both were formidable opponents. Hallie used to say when she was in Sector 5 she could hear from the Heart of Lyoko.

Dante shook is head. _Enough about Hallie. She's gone out of your life. Riley and Sakura have forgotten her. You can too._

But he didn't want to forget Hallie. What pained him even more were the similarities between Stella and Hallie. Stella reminded Dante of Hallie so much that at times it hurt. Stella could have been a more mature Hallie; what Hallie would have been like at 15, but Stella wasn't Hallie.  
Stella had brown hair and brown eyes. Hallie had pink hair, kind of hard to miss that, and green eyes. They were different heights, had different skin tones, and different interests. They had different parents. All logical evidence said that Stella and Hallie were two entirely different people.

_Hallie's gone. She's out of your life. Let her go._

Dante was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of a laser arrow being shot. Drew had shot the toxin. The fool. Dante tackled Drew to the ground. The black line he shot went from a passive state to an aggressive alive state. Out of the line shot black tendrils groping around for the one who attacked it. When it didn't find anything the tendrils receded and the lines went back to their passive state.

Dante got off of Drew and sternly reprimanded him. "Don't touch the toxin." Dante already had and he did not desire for anyone to go through that experience. A direct line with XANA isn't the most desirable of things to happen to XANA's sworn enemies.

Dante, Riley and Drew made it to the tower uninhibited by any other obstacles. While Dante entered the tower, Drew and Riley enjoyed the scenery. Drew entertained the notion that from his perch on top of an iceberg that he saw the toxin lengthen exactly when Dante deactivated the tower.

Sticky Note: 8/9/07

I'm back! Front liner's was awesome, and I, unfortunately, have a sunburn on my neck. I am asking readers for ideas of what to call/ label the toxin that is infecting Lyoko. It needs a name besides infection, poison, it. I'm welcome to any ideas. Reframe from sending me sailor language/tongue/ vocabulary, please.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40:**

The three guys were gathered around the pool watching Sakura trying to drown…ahem, I mean _dunk_ Steven. Actually they were gathered around the screen of the supercomputer watching from a web cam screen how Sakura was trying to "dunk" Steven.

Stella appeared on screen in a violet swimsuit as the scenery blurred (she was turning the laptop around).

"Hiyas!" she greeted.

Drew blanked out. His mind shut down, and his mouth moved on a will of its own.

"Are you wearing a bikini?"

Riley and Dante glared at him.

"What? She never wears two pieces."

Dante gave him a frosty glare. Think the artic in a blizzard trapped underneath an iceberg. Frosty. "And when do you take note of what swimwear Stella wears?"

Drew gulped, "I-I don't. I just, uh…"

Stella giggled, "It's Sakura's and I wasn't given a choice in wearing it. There wasn't the luxury of time to pick out a more modest swimsuit what with a mob pheromone hormone crazed zombies under XANA's command chasing us. This reminds me. You just might want to return to the past before we the five stalkees are scarred for life."

Dante held her gaze. "What are you doing with my laptop?"

"Nothing," _REVENGE! _Roared Psycho Stelly.

Of course how she said told the guys everything but that. The screen went blank as Stella turned off the camera effectively stopping the coming interrogation. Dante smirked at Stella's actions. Stella could avoid answering his question for the present, but she couldn't hide from him forever. Dante typed in the return to the past program.

(':')

In Biology Stella amazingly stayed tuned into everything that happened. She even had Steven sent to the Principal's office over the whole spitball affair. On the other side of the building in Algebra II Riley and Drew were talking.

There was a sub in the class so they had a quiet study time to work on their homework and they could work with partners. The only condition was that the students had to be quiet. Translation: free for all do not do your work and chat up a storm. The classroom was loud of course.

"You seemed bugged this morning over Sakura-chan's date." Riley said.

He was probing for information. As the big brother he had to keep tabs on all males interested in his sister. That included his best friend.

Drew rolled his eyes, "Nah, it was just that pheromone thing affecting me. What did you get for number six?"

Riley let Drew play innocent and change the subject. They both knew the whole pheromone disaster hadn't started until lunch which was two periods away. Let Drew be in denial. He's only fooling himself.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41:**

Stella was not happy, period. She had had it. Everyone was busy. Drew was busy with some video/computer project he's been working on for the past month. Normally she would ask if she could help but this project was _private_ and _personal_. Plus, he was acting unusually moody lately. Sakura was on a date, what horrors boyfriends are stealing friends from their single friends, with Eric. Riley was getting in top form for the Kaddic High Academy soccer tryouts; Dante was helping Riley train.

All her friends were busy. Stella didn't want to do her school work (even though she should). She was bored. Stella is currently staring at her the wall across her room. Her mind is dulled by the monotony of the moment. When you fight to save the world your perspective changes.

Everyone was busy and weren't here to relieve her of her boredom or restrain her from insanity if the boredom continued. No one was there to keep her in line. No one was there to keep tabs on her whereabouts.

Stella blinked as an idea drifted into her head. Two phrases just kept running her mind.

_Everyone is busy. _

_ No one is here to tell me what not to do._ Like go on Lyoko and explore Sector 5.

_Let the unsupervised exploration begin!_

(':')

Riley was smart to train now. It was late November, yes, but if he got in shape now he would have all winter to improve before the spring soccer season started. Also he didn't want to be sucked up into the black hole that was his dorm room.

The room was covered in photographs. They were everywhere tacked onto Drew's bulletin board, stacked by the computer, piled on Drew's desk and arranged out on his bedspread. A few had even managed to creep over onto Riley's side of the room.

Only one picture seemed properly cared for. It was in a picture frame and was placed carefully on tip of the computer screen. The picture was of a blonde man with spick hair that had a purple spot in the middle, a woman with brown hair and hazel eyes, and an eight year-old boy that looked suspiciously like a younger version of Drew.

The room was currently empty of any living breathing people, but the person knocking on the door didn't know that. Knocking.

"Hey Riley? Drew? Anyone in there?" More knocking.

"Hello-o is anyone in there?"

The doorknob twisted and the door slowly opened. Sakura poked her head into the room.

"And no one is here."

Sakura noticed the picture mayhem and the picture frame. She picked up the frame and examined the picture better. She recognized the adult man in the picture from her Dad's stories and her parents old, old, old, photos. That was Odd Della Robia.

_Wow, I thought his last name was weird and I knew his dad knew my parents, but I didn't know Drew's dad was the famous movie producer._ Sakura's glance strayed to the kind looking woman next to Odd. Her expression was that of laughter, happiness… and peace. Sakura furrowed her brow and started to think.

_Something happened to her. What was her name? Kirsten! Kirsten Moore was her maiden name before she married Odd Della Robia. My parents went to their wedding. But something happened to Kirsten. There was a big hoopla about it…what seven years ago? It was bigger then that Crocodile Hunter person Steve Irwin's death. Oh yeah…_

Sakura set down the picture frame and looked at a different one. Drew was a few years older in this picture maybe thirteen. It was just Drew and his Dad. Both seemed more mature and Drew's mom wasn't in this picture. It was the only picture in the room without Kirsten in it.

Sakura started to really look at the pictures. Drew's mom was in every one of them in some fashion. Whether she was with Drew's Dad, Drew, by herself or with other foreign people unknown to her except for some pictures that looked suspiciously like a younger version of her parents, Drew's mom was in every picture.

_Where's Drew?_ Sakura pondered before leaving the room. She started jogging down the hall planning to briefly interrupt her brother's training. Stella wouldn't know.

Stella wasn't in her room and had left a note saying she'd gone exploring and to send out a search party if she wasn't back in two hours. That girl was convinced that their school had secret passage ways in it. Yes, the school was old, had beautiful ancient wooden architecture, and huge windows in the hallways; but secret passage ways was taking it a step to far.

But then again people would say the same thing about a factory housing a supercomputer that had the capability to send people to a virtual world inside it. Add on the demonic A.I. trying to take over the world and it sounds like a weird sci-fi show or something you would find on cartoon network.

Well since she was out exploring Stella was out of the question of having seen Drew the moody hermit. Riley would probably know. Drew was his roommate.

The picture back in the room was in its spot on top of the computer. In it Kirsten was holding an eight year-old Drew. Behind them was a posing Odd. The family radiated warmth. The picture reflected on happier times for the Della Robia family.

(':')

Stella jammed in the seat of the supercomputer preparing the virtualization to Sector 5 and the virtualization of the overboard.

"Bop, bop, bop, straight to the top!" she sang grooving in her seat. Stella was prepared to press enter and skedaddle to the scanners to be virtualized when a flashing box appeared on the screen.

"That's weird." She said clicking on the box. When she spoke her voice was a whisper like the wind barely audible in the quiet room.

"Oh my."

Sticky Note 8/11/07: a name, please. It will be used in the next chapter which will be posted Monday (there's your deadline). I will call it The Ooze or something of that ilk if you readers do not stretch your creativity muscles. School starts in 17 days people, band camp in 2. Please review and send me a name or wallow in the consequences.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42:**

Stella clicked on the alert and read the details it contained. Images and letters streamed across the screen informing Stella all she needed to know about Lyokoware, the strange disease infecting Lyoko. She learned that and more much more not found in the computers memory but hers.

She sank back against the seat. _Oh, THAT'S_ _what happened on Halloween._ Stella shivered at the memory. _Let's not think about it just yet. _

The alert read: New growth, in flashing letters and highlighted the growth. The infection covered the entire ice region and the majority of the mountain region. The forest region was now in the first stages of infection.

The infection wasn't really called Lyokoware. It was called "it", blank, . Stella felt she had to give this menace a name if not a face.

"Blank. Very original. This thing is named . It needs a name. How about Lyokoware? Kind of like spy ware but pertaining to Lyoko. I dub thee Lyokoware, Dennis the Menace"

Stella cancelled the previous programs she had set up. There had been a change in plans. A major change in plans. The Lyokoware menace had to be stopped. It was dripping over the regions. It had somehow connected over the different sectors without using the way towers or Sector 5. That was a scary thought. The arms and limbs of Lyoko were infected and infected things tend to die. Some are even amputated to keep the infection from spreading. If everything is taken off the center is left defenseless and immobile open for attack.

_Easy girl. Don't get to pessimistic just do what you _did_ on Halloween and you'll be cool. Aw man! What did I do on Halloween?_

Stella shook her head cursing her short term memory loss and long term memory loss. She would figure out what she did on Halloween on Lyoko. Her cell rang. Stella flipped open the phone and gave a cheery, "Hello!" to the caller.

//"What are you doing?"//

(':')

"HIYAS!"

Dante and Riley turned to see who had greeted them in such a childish manner. Sakura smiled uncertainly at them. _I sound like Stella girl._ Sakura moseyed up to the two sweaty, really smelly guys and grinned brightly again hiding her unease inside. It wasn't at them that she felt unease about. It was him, the picture loving baka.

"Hi Dante. Can I steal my brother for a minute?"

Dante shrugged and Sakura pulled Riley off to the side. Sakura caught a glimpse of Dante pulling out his cell phone and calling someone. She zeroed in on her brother.

"Have you seen Drew?"

Riley nodded and eyed his sister.

"How was your date?"

Sakura shrugged, "Meh, okay, but," she squirmed, "there probably won't be a second date. Eric's a great guy, but some of his friends don't treat and respect girls the way they should. How's training?"

Riley shrugged, "Drew was heading toward the park the last time I saw him. Don't go into our room if you value your life."

Riley tugged his sister's ponytail before gently pushing her away from him. "Go talk to the hermit. I'm sure he is better company then you smelly nii-san (brother)"

Sakura gave Riley a pouty face and hugged him before pulling away and wrinkling her nose.

"You do smell. Thanks Riley."

Riley watched his sister depart while he juggled the soccer ball. He watched Dante. This person too he would have to watch. He would have to watch Dante very carefully concerning Dante's intentions toward Stella. Sakura would watch him to. The Stern's were very protective of Stella.

Dante hung up his phone. He shook his head and gazed off into the distance. Riley thought he heard Dante say something along the lines of, "What is she scheming?"

(':')

The park was quiet for the most part. There were the usual sounds of cars, children laughing, bubbling water and human voices, but they all seemed quiet in this open space.

There was a fountain in the center of the park that was surrounded by a path for walkers and joggers to sojourn. Off to the right there was playground equipment for children to play on. The paths were shaded by tall leafy tress and benches lined the path. Drew was sitting on a bench and looking intently at a picture in his hand.

Drew was currently reminiscing over the event staking place prior to when the picture was taken. Mom was wearing her baseball cap sitting on a bench similar to the one he was sitting on now. She was laughing as a seven-year-old Drew held extended in his arms a grey kitten.

He could clearly remember the age old plea he had invoked, "Can I keep her, huh, Mom? PLEASE?"

Dad had been laughing when he photographed the picture. Bandit had joined the household that day the favorite of mom. Bandit's favorite person was Drew's mom. The two were inseparable during Mom's chemo treatment. Bandit had been a major part of the next two years ups and downs. Curling up with Mom when she was at her sickest. Circling between everyone's legs and cuddling in their laps when they celebrated Mom's remission. Bandit was truly Mom's cat, and had stuck with her until the end.

Yep, that cat could have been a dog for where her loyalties lay. She stuck with Mom until the end and died in the same car accident Mom did a week after they celebrated the continued lack of cancer in Mom's body. The seven year anniversary was in a week.

"Hey."

The soft greeting was almost passed off as not heard by Drew, but he listened and turned to face Sakura.

"What are you doing here?"

Sakura ignored his question and sat next to him on the bench.

"You do know your room is a mess, right?"

Drew shrugged, "Why do you care?"

It was all a part of his latest video project. A memorial for his mom. He was hoping to have it completed and emailed to his father before the anniversary.

Sakura gave him a playfully disdainful look. "I don't beat up everyone I come across. As hard as it may be for you to believe I am actually quite a nice person. I only hit the people that deserve it."

Drew felt a smile tugging at his mouth when he heard the similarity to a remark he had made to her before the zombie uprising. Sakura stood up.

"I just wanted to let you know if you want to talk about anything I am willing to listen."

Sakura smiled at him and left the park. Drew smiled at looked back at his photograph. His mom would have liked Sakura.

(':')

Stella slumped against the tall trees custom to the forest region. She was exhausted. She was weak. She shouldn't feel this drained.

When she had used the code, Code: Heal, to purify the way towers on Halloween she hadn't been this exhausted. She had made the four way towers completely immune to Lyokoware in its first attacks then including the connecting pathways between the way towers.

That attempt had left her so drained she was defenseless when Scippy came a calling to prey on her. At least then she could move to run away and call for help. Now, after immunizing one and all its tendrils she was in a worse state then she was on Halloween. She was exhausted and past the point of moving. She was _weak_.

The most humiliating and clarifying fact over the whole matter was that severe infection of the forest region hadn't even started, yet. The Lyokoware tendrils hadn't even made it halfway to the closest tower.

Stella hated to admit it but XANA was winning. Now, with her Jedi robes draped across the ground around her still form hunched against a tree she had to admit this battle was being won by him, it, XANA. Whatever.

She couldn't keep up. Maybe once, yeah, a long time ago, but now, no. XANA was methodically eliminating her last and ultimate defense, her shape shifting ability. Her shape shifting ability is her last line of defense behind the dazzle and kick butt offense she once possessed. Now the offense was gone, gone, gone, gone, and her defense was nearly gone also. One more successful draining and she would be defenseless to protect her codes and her life. But Stella had more spunk and fiery determination and sheer stubbornness then she let on.

The scenery blurred and for a moment Stella could have sworn she saw the Scyphozoa in front of her.

_Mirages on Lyoko, brilliant. Scary brilliant._ Stella mentally whined as the tentacles came and rested on her forehead.

Something sparked inside of her. An old forgotten zeal that summed up in its entirety her spunk, determination, mule headedness, and most importantly refusal to go down without giving an earth shaking fight. The zeal gave Stella the energy to move from her paralysis rendered by exhaustion to move her head and defiantly glare at the Scyphozoa.

The tentacles repelled from an invisible barrier and Stella found the strength to stand and reach out to touch the Scyphozoa. The thing shrieked hissing before recoiling from her. Stella gave him a Dante smirk before turning to limp to the way tower.

She had two entire regions to heal and if she couldn't immunize them she would at least cut off and immunize one of the infected towers from the Lyokoware.

(-:-)

Out in the mountain region one solitary tower with a blue aurora shifted to a red aurora. This particular tower stood out from the rest in the region since the rest had a black aurora.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43:**

Cell phones across the county beeped in extreme urgency. Some were calling doctors to important medical emergencies. Some were from children trying to find their lost parents or lost children in the grocery store calling their parents in order to find them. Some were teen girls ready to dish the latest scoop into the grapevine. Lawyers fumbled with their phones hoping for the crucial information need to win the case.

Four phones belonging to four teenagers rang their tunes selected by their owners: Duel of the Fates, Jaws, the Mario Theme and vibrate. All signaled an incoming text message.

**X attack **

ooo

_Floating is a wonderful thing. Floating is a wonderful thing._ Indeed floating is a wonderful things. So are way towers and regular inactive towers. Stella liked towers because she could float and heal but it mainly the floating.

All towers have restorative capabilities, but the way towers were more effective then regular towers. It had something to do with the fact way towers could not be activated by XANA.

Stella was lying on thin air suspended completely relaxed as a white light from the tower proceeded to give her the strength to move. The light ebbed and Stella was gently set to her feet. She had her strength. It was time to check up on the lone tower in the mountain range; she could make sure that that lone tower was never taken.

Stella walked over to the side of the platform and uneasily stared over the edge. _It always feels like I'm trying to kill myself when I do willingly go into freefall. Stunts woman I am not. Here goes._ Taking a deep breath, Stella closed her eyes and let her self fall over the side of the section and into the connection of towers.

Having safely reached the internal mountain way tower Stella phased out of the tower and was immediately assaulted with a sense of evil. _What's happened to Lyoko?_

The fine weave of black lines winked back at her ominously. This would be a slow track to the center of the region ironically where the one non Lyokowared tower resided.

ooo

Out on earth sound systems were going crazy. Bomb raid sirens were going off, car alarms and cell phones were ringing off the hook. The TVs, stereos, and other portable sound devices' volumes were pushed to the max and above.

The din was growing and destroying the population's hearing. In this case earplugs are a wonderful thing and so is text messaging.

**WHR DID U GET THESE?** (Text to Sakura from Drew)

**MY PURSE** (Text to Drew from Sakura)

**THE DARK HOLE?** (Text to Sakura from Drew)

**…YES** (Text to Drew from Sakura)

Drew waved his arms to get Sakura's attention as he pointed at Dante and Riley's location. The uncontrollable sound outburst had started when Sakura was walking down the path of the park still in Drew's sight.

When the chaos started she was so shocked she fell to her knees and covered her ears in pain. Drew came running after her then in surprise with her actions and helped her up, the gentleman. The two found Sakura's big purse stuffed full of random, but useful, objects and set out to find Dante and Riley after receiving the text message.

Riley had his fingers stuck in his ears, and Dante was unfazed by the mayhem. Sakura ran up to Riley, dug around in her purse, and pulled out a pair of soundproof DJ headphones. He gratefully accepted. Stella poked her ears to make sure her earplugs were in place; Drew knew his were. Duct tape anyone?

**MY EARDRUMS THK U** (Text to Sakura from Riley)

**:D** (Text to Riley from Sakura)

Sakura waved a pair of earplugs at Dante. He shook his head declining the nonverbal question.

**EARDRUMS OF STEEL** (Text to Sakura from Drew)

Sakura laughed a soundless laugh. Dante rolled his eyes before sending a mental text message to everyone's phones.

**TO THE FACTORY – X.2**

ooo

Stella was nervously eyeing the black lines of the Lyokoware. She was skirting the edge of the sector trying to find a path through the maze of Lyokoware to the remaining tower. For a fleeting, evanescent moment Stella could have sworn she saw the Lyokoware move, shift in its position, but then it was gone.

Stella should have taken it as a harbinger of disaster, but you can't condemn what you're ignorant of.

ooo

The sewer rang with sound. Instead of the chaotic din above below the streets the tunnels were filled with music. The water bubbled and if you lingered voices and laughter would seem to rise from the water.

"Skate boarding is a dying art," commented Drew from his board. Riley was running to build up his endurance. Rollerblades were Sakura's transportation.

"I heard Belpois Industries were designing prototype hover boards." Drew added.

Sakura looked over at him in shock. "Where did you hear that?"

"Stella mentioned once about how cool riding hover boards to the factory would be."

"Here comes the jump!" Riley yelled effectively focusing the two teen's attention back on their course of movement.

ooo

A cliff towered above Stella. Dead end. It was amazing. There wasn't any Lyokoware in the area though the shadows cast from the cliff looked fishy. The cliff ended where the platform ended. In front of her was a cliff. To her right was the cliff. To her left was the edge of the platform and behind her was the route out to the rest of the sector. Off in the distance through the mist Stella could see other platforms and the outlines of the mountains.

_Time to take a u-turn._ Stella commentated silently. She felt relatively safe her. Yes, the mountain region creeped her out right now, but here in this uninfected area she felt safe. Safe enough to rest in her colorless Lyoko form without any walls or defenses up.

Relaxed, off guard, distracted, peaceful all of those described Stella. It all added to her shock when she nearly earned herself a concussion from walking straight into an invisible barrier exiting the safe zone.

"Ow."

It all happened quickly. While Stella was sprawled across the ground a line of Lyokoware surged out in a new path toward the edge of the cliff cutting Stella off from the cliff's safety and possibility of climbing it. Black tendrils sprouted from the line and latched itself to Stella's ankles.

Stella's eyes widened and then drooped to a non-seeing haze. Stella stare ahead listlessly as the tendrils moved to cover more of her.

Sticky note 8/25/07:

I'm terrible. I'm picking on Stella. It's not fair for her. I need to pick on Sakura or maybe Riley. Ooh, more OCs. Maybe Sissy has siblings that have kids that have their aunt's attitude. Ooh. School starts Monday. I've been in band camp for the past two weeks and I have a football game this afternoon.

Everyone who reads this story should send a big THANKS! To AussieUlrich. He came up with the fabulous name for our infection in Lyoko. The name is Lyokoware if you have read the story you know this.

I'm lonely. My email is empty. I would love some reviews to fill it up. Make me smile and review!


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44:**

"The Lyokoware is burgeoning." Riley commentated.

"Huh?" Sakura and Drew eloquently asked.

"It's flourishing," Dante answered for the two.

"What's Lyokoware? Why is it called that? What does it have to do with Lyoko?" asked the girl of many questions.

"An infection; I don't know, I didn't name it. It's killing Lyoko in a sense." Dante replied.

"Listen to his candor." Riley added.

Sakura stared at her brother with a look of tolerance. _Candor means sincerity/ honesty. I HATE PSATs. People exp: Riley become annoying._

"Please stop being such a grandiloquent. Just because you are studying your vocab for the PSATs doesn't give you the excuse to confuse the rest of us and make yourself seem intelligent."

Drew surprised the two of them. "Stop the fracas and head to the scanners."

On Lyoko

Dante had stopped the march to the tower with a motion of his hand. Something wasn't right. The Lyokoware had proven capricious, extremely unpredictable. An effect like the parting of the Red Sea had occurred when Dante first set foot on Lyoko. It was immediately after that to the contrary of its previous actions, the Lyokoware seemed to be trying to touch Dante. Riley, Sakura, and Drew were cautiously guarding Dante from the now passive Lyokoware.

The tower was right there in front of the entire group. Everyone saw the tower eerie with its red aurora. But instead of going inside and shutting down the tower Dante had stopped all movement entirely.

"Dante, what are you doing?" asked Sakura as she warily eyed a slightly rippling piece of Lyokoware. She was mentally reviewing all the weapons that compiled to make her arsenal when Dante walked past her. Dante was walking _toward_ the Lyokoware **away** from the tower.

Dante led the three—he went off by himself; they followed—to the edge of the sector. The sight that greeted them was of a grouping of blocks surrounding a central figure.

Sakura gasped and ran toward the figure covered in black tendrils of the lyokoware standing on the edge of the sector dancing between the line of falling and standing.

"Stella," (Sakura has a weird overprotective sixth sense always allowing her to figure out who exactly is in the depths of trouble)

She smacked straight into nothing, skidded back a few steps, and landed dazed on the ground. Drew glanced over at her, gave a shout, and yanked her to her feet pulling her behind him.

On the ground where Sakura had sat for the briefest amount of time black tendrils from the lyokoware groped around and receded back into the main lyokoware line it had sprung from.

Riley was sliding his hand along the invisible wall testing its length and shape. Drawing his light saber he smote the wall with all his strength lashing at it furiously. The wall stood tall and strong.

Dante had a go at the wall. Placing his hands flat against the wall Dante closed his red eyes and channeled red energy into the wall. Riley reached out and his hand rested on an invisible barrier.

Dante glared at the wall and tried again. Behind them the lyokoware gleamed with evil intent.

OOO

She was surrounded by darkness. The blackness, the sheer nothingness surrounded her and numbed her to the bone. She had no idea if her arm was moving in front of her face or resting at her side. She sensed nothing except for an evil force that dripped poison into her mind.

**'He's angry,'** rumbled a smug voice. That voice was all that kept her mind slightly sane yet drove it over the edge all in one. Its attention turned to her. **'Well what is this? Is the little light going out? You've been flickering for so long. Let me help end your shining days.'**

She could feel one of her legs move by the will of the blackness that surrounded her. Not her will but an alien being's. One leg moved forward in a step and then the other. She stepped onto thin air and then the tug of gravity came.

_REBELLION!_

OOO

The crazy girl, Stella, who stepped off the mountain region platform twisted around mid air, caught the edge with her hands and pushed herself into a flip where she landed back on the ground of the mountain region. It is also known as pulling a Luke Skywalker, from the VI Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi.

A violet light saber streaked from her hand, and the figure lunged at the nearest block slicing through it. All the blocs spun around on their axis before opening fire. The violet blade bounced the laser shots back into the blocks' XANA's eye.

The figure, still covered in lyokoware tendrils, paused for a moment and waited. The black tendrils of lyokoware flew off Stella in a burst of white light. Panting she gazed past the invisible barrier.

Her Jedi robes were rumpled slightly while her black curls were caught back in a ponytail. Her silver eyes roamed over the faces of all gathered on the opposite side of the barrier until she locked gazes with Dante.

Maybe it was the look in her eyes, the expression on her face, or the knowledge that Stella had been in contact with XANA is what tipped everyone off. Everyone knew what had happened.

_She knows._

The light saber blade fizzled out of existence and her appearance blurred back to the grey pants and top of her regular form. She held her arms away from her body in a look of defense and shocked realization.

"Stella," Dante said.

Stella shook her head and made a movement that looked like she had laughed. She shook her head at him again and mouthed one word.

"Stella," his voice was rising now.

She gave him the strangest smile and repeated the word again.

"Stella." there was a sense of urgency in his tone.

She shook her head and said the word again louder, but not loud enough to be heard. A weird type of energy was rolling off her now causing the remaining blocks to warily circle her, but not attack. The blocks exploded, and Stella turned away from those behind the barrier.

"Stella!"

"Stella!" Sakura cried joining in. "Where are you going?"

Stella was walking toward the cliff now with her back to everyone; her black hair bouncing with each step. Before reaching the face of the cliff Stella turned and shouted at them one word. The word she had said repeatedly before.

"LIAR!"

She turned back toward the cliff and spoke aloud to herself, "Liar. We're all huge, big fat liars." She whispered. Stella stepped into the shadows and disappeared from view.

Drew rested a clawed hand on the invisible wall, testing its support.

"There's an underground tunnel down there. It leads to a narrow, straight, walled in passage before opening up maybe 20 meters away from where we are now."

"Why is she constantly on Lyoko when she's not supposed to be?" Sakura asked.

Riley replied, "Knowing her, at the first sign of freedom she went running toward it when the dictators weren't there to force their will on her. She was probably headed to Sector 5 again to explore."

Placing one clawed hand over another Drew started scaling the invisible wall. Reaching the top of the invisible barrier, which was level with the top of the cliff, Drew waved cheekily down at them. Riley and Sakura started to turn back towards the direction of the tower.

A scream cut out all previous thought processes. Drew leaped down to the ground and ran out of sight. Dante made a fist crackling with red energy and punched the barrier. A shattering sound was heard. Sakura and Riley ran off towards the way Stella left and the direction where the scream had come from.

Their calls echoed back and lingered Dante like a dangerous perfume. "Stella!" Dante looked at the backs of the running figures of his friends. He slowly turned away from them and toward the tower.

The Sticky Note at the bottom of the page:  
Sheesh. It's 12-15-07 and this chapter has been published for 4 months, and it has taken me 4 months to realize the stupid bugs cut half of it off. TELL me if something doesn't make sense in a chapter or if it abrublty cuts off. I'll do something about it before I discover the mistake four months later. Sigh, review, please.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45: **

"Stella!"

The echo of Sakura's voice bounced off the walls of the tunnel. "Stella!"

They had found the tunnel Stella had disappeared into. The two Sterns rounded a bend to be greeted with the sight of lyokoware dripping through the roof of the tunnel to the ground. At the end of the tunnel they heard Drew cry "laser arrow!" and a thudding sound resounded through the tunnel of the arrows hitting a solid object.

Sakura screamed as lyokoware dropped onto her. She was instantly devirtualized. Riley dodged the lyokoware and saw Stella in her demi Riley form, the Jedi one, hanging suspended in front of the Scyphozoa as it drained her.

Her light saber lay inactive at her feet. Drew was surrounded by black tendrils he was slashing at with his extended claws. The tendrils of the lyokoware kept him in one spot fighting to keep virtualized instead of helping Stella.

Stella's Jedi form wavered then tuned into her regular colorless Lyoko form. The Scyphozoan seemed to emit a hum as Stella started to glow white.

Riley reached out with his telekinesis abilities and yanked Stella out of the Scyphozoa's grasp into his arms. The Lyokoware immediately responded violently devirtualizing Drew and then attacking Riley with the limp Stella.

Riley shoved out his hand in front of him using his telekinesis to bend the tendrils back and away from him. He slowly backed away putting a considerable distance between himself and this new monster, so it should properly be classified, before releasing his mind hold on the lyokoware and running.

He needed to get her to a tower, and as Riley ran past tower after tower he soon came to a grim conclusion. No towers in the mountain region were safe to place Stella in to send her back to earth. All except for one and that one was a variable to say the least. That one currently was causing the disturbance of unruly sound on earth.

Riley made it to the foot of the tower. A new growth of lyokoware was progressing toward the base of the tower. When it sensed Riley's approach, tendrils came out and latched onto him devirtualizing him. The last thing Riley was able to do before his wire frame completely disappear was to push Stella inside the tower.

She would be alright. Stella was a strange girl, but she could take care of herself, mostly. The only times she couldn't is when she blindly runs into something, all guards down, and all alone. She would be alright. If she could be knocked unconscious on Lyoko, survive the lyokoware and the attempts on her life by one certain demonic A.I. (XANA) she would be alright. But what do you expect from a strange girl with a strange legacy, friends, family, life, and enemies.

OOO

Dante stared at the screen waiting for his handprint. After reading his handprint it would enter the data in the computer and cross reference it for the appropriate code. In his case it was the code: Lyoko. The code would deactivate the tower and all chaos on earth will cease. That is what he should be doing, but now he was distracted by one girl, one reaction and one word.

"LIAR!"

Because of this word Dante's hand hovered over the screen as a war raged within him. That's the way the cookie crumbles. He loses a precious person over a fact he can't control, that he was XANA.2, XANA's son. He wasn't Dante to her any longer, but XANA, XANA.2, XANA's spawn. Not a person, but an enemy.

Dangerous thinking implements dangerous actions and results. In that moment when Dante no longer thought of him self as Dante, but as XANA.2 he caused an action whose repercussions would permanently effect and alter not only his future, but every Lyoko warrior's causing a sequel to eventually come forth and continue the consequences of this one event.

The first sign of this was the appearance of the Code: XANA. The code appeared after Dante realized his hand was on the screen. No longer did his hand hover; now it had been read and that horrible bane of Dante's life reared its ugly head in a more intimate way then before. Destruction attached itself to Dante.

O Excerpt from Stella's Diary O

It was the strangest thing, even stranger then the sensation of being drained. All barriers had been broken leaving me vulnerable and without protection. There was no hiding for me now. I had my first encounter with an out of body experience viewing things from a third point of view like you would in a dream.

I don't believe I was dead—I obviously wasn't due to the fact I am writing this now—my traitorous heart kept beating, but I definitely wasn't conscious. Maybe I was dreaming. That would be a first on Lyoko.

I could see Lyoko in a strange way. Two sectors were drenched in darkness, but what caught my attention was the conflict on one of the sectors. Two codes in the shapes of tiny spheres crashed against each other battling for dominance.

One was white or composed of visible light. I could tell this was the dominant code by default. I don't know how I knew I just knew. I also knew it was foreign to the person, stolen and passed down as a family heirloom to the current possessor of that code. Inside me one of my codes hummed in the same wavelength and tone as that code.

The other code was black or the absence of light. This code was foreign to me, but was also the other carrier of codes birthright. It would have been his original code and only code if not for two things. One, the light code was gifted to the carrier and resounded with the carrier. You can have a code but it will lay dormant if the personality or composition of a person's character doesn't agree with it. You will have it, but will never benefit or use it. The final reason Two, the code had express permission of the other two carriers of the code to be used by this person.

Because of how well the white code suited its carrier it became the carrier's dominate code, but changes in the person's character or decisions could throw off this balance. This is what made this war I saw going on inside of the carrier so frightening. There seemed to be a great and distinct possibility that the dominate code would be beaten down by the recessive one.

The white orb flickered and was snuffed out by an unseen party, most likely the carrier of the codes. All that was left to be used was the black orb.

_Don't do it. Don't! No, NO!_ I screamed at the carrier of the dark code. Don't do it! Don't use a code! The light code is gone; there is nothing to repress the dark one! Don't use it!

But the person didn't hear me or my warning. They were unaware of the change of the danger of what had just taken place. They were clueless and when they did as per usual of entering codes of submitting your handprint they implanted a code of destruction. Instead of the expected code: Lyoko to appear the opposite unhindered, freed code appeared.

Code: XANA.

Then pain rippled through me, and I was thrown out of the weird dream into true unconsciousness. I woke up on earth in a daze and in a scanner alone.

Sticky Note 9/3/2007: I am so uberly excited. What did you guys think? I can't wait to post and type up the next two chapters. Yes, there will be a sequel named Return my Heart: Lyoko the Second generation, but that is a long way off. I'm almost halfway done maybe with Return my Past. The whole dream thing is huge, major hints and foreshadowing about how strange Stella is. You guys might want to reread my summary for this story and ponder it. Toodles!


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46:**

Sticky note #1 (yes, you have to read it): Thank you Andrew for the theater adage. Don't worry I've flashed my gun throughout the entire Act 1, and now I am firing it. CHA! Continue with your regularly scheduled reading. (Don't know what I'm talking about read my reviews)

The instant Dante entered his handprint he knew something had changed. He didn't know what or how it changed until the letters typed across the screen read in bold red: X-A-N-A.

His father had found a new way to torment him. Outside, simultaneous with the entrance of the code: XANA code, the branch of lyokoware touched base with the tower opening a pathway for destruction.

Like a flame to a trail of gunpowder so the code spread along the branches of the lyokoware across the mountain region and onto the ice region setting off a train of destruction in its wake.

Dante fell to the ground as the tower flickered out of existence. Quickly he registered a colorless human form laying beside him, Stella. Then the ground rapidly started to disappear.

The destruction of the mountain and ice regions was like a backspace taking out a paragraph. Quick, efficient and thorough. In seconds the closes object below him was the digital sea. In half a minute the mountain sector was gone and the ice sector's destruction began. In one solitary minute two major sectors of Lyoko were gone except for the two way towers and a minimal amount of land surrounding them.

The code spread along the lines of Lyokoware connecting with towers and other paths destroying everything behind it and everything it came in contact with. The lyokoware acted as a scapegoat/ sacrificial lamb for the sector's destruction.

Dante was sitting unaffected by gravity staring in shock processing what had just occurred. In his lap was the unconscious Stella. Whatever conflict that was raging within him was stopped with a quick glance down at the black curls of Stella.

Dante turned his gaze toward the center point where the two remaining sectors rotated around. His eyes flashed red, and he issued a silent command. _Come._

Seconds later the white transport orb to Sector 5 came and enveloped the two sending them both to Sector 5. Arriving in the sector Dante navigated it like a pro ignoring the key and heading to the one lone tower in the sector.

"Drew, bring her home," he quietly commanded as he turned to exit the tower. Stella was lying in the center of the tower. Dante was on the middle ring when he was stopped by a death grip on his ankle. He turned and saw the still unconscious Stella initiating the death grip. He moved his leg forward experimentally, and Stella was dragged a bit forward. He slowly placed his foot back behind him. Unable to free himself and unwilling to hurt Stella Dante was stuck in the tower while the Code Earth program ran.

Naturally complications arose. Dante made it back to earth safely, but that was not true for Stella.

OOO

Stella lay on the bottom of the scanner motionless, conscious, and was staring at the dust. The place looked worn down and deserted.

_Huh, the heart I carved into the wall two years ago is gone, poof. The metal looks unmarred. Interesting…_ time travel was always an interesting concept especially considering the return to the past feature in the super computer.

_How far back am I?_ Voices and people answered her questions.

"Aelita, this is silly. Nothing is here. XANA's locked up on the internet. There is nothing to worry about."

"I know Jeremy, but I just feel like something strange has happened."

"Listen to her Einstein. She's been right about these kinds of things before."

"Why are we here?"

"Easy, Ulrich. Aelita wants the moral support and to know the entire group is behind her. Odd's happy go lucky, Jeremy's skeptical, so we are the only real voices of reason."

"Yean and even those voices of reason are questionable, Yumi," Odd's voice carried. A slap and an "OW!" from Odd reached Stella's ears. _So it's genetic, huh?_

There was silence as the elevator doors opened. A whistle of disbelief was the only audible sound. Stella lifted her head to look at the feet of her parents. They looked to be 16 placing her 26-28 years in the past.

"Who are you?" Ulrich asked. He was taller, well taller then he was at twelve.

_Hmm, should I be a smart aleck, clueless (like I am, sort of) guarded or honest. Tough choice._

"Huh, I get who are you. I was expecting what are you doing here, how did you find this place, when did you discover this place, what do you know, where did you get the information and why are you here. You know the whole nine yards. Instead I get who are you."

She got up and stood quite wobbly and hit with a wave of dizziness. Yes, the guys were still taller then her now as were in the present, her present which was in the future. Weird.

"I'm Stella Stern."

"Are you related to Ulrich?" Aelita asked the only person not fazed by Stella's appearance in the scanner room.

"Supposedly," Stella replied then turning her attention to the one person who could help her and spoke, "If two people, one who is dependant on code earth for devirtualization on Lyoko and the other is independent of devirtualization except by force of will or consent, are stuck together in the same tower and devirtualized, the dependent one unconscious and the independent one held captive by the same dependent one what would happen, sir?" She added at the very end. _I think it's strange that I know that including the fact that I was unconscious during the time it happened, but oh well._

Jeremy looked surprised then thoughtful at her question. "Depending on the variables present nothing could happen and both could be devirtualized safely. Or they could be fused together into one being. Or one could be devirtualized and the other left to the mercy of the supercomputer to be stored or transported wherever the computer puts them, and if you consider the return to the past function a person could be flung back anywhere in time…"

Jeremy looked at Stella in a new light assessing her rumpled appearance.

"This isn't a hypothetical situation is it?"

Stella shook her head no. Jeremy turned to the elevator and headed toward the supercomputer mumbling theories, hypothesizes and other ideas. All remaining eyes turned to Stella, like they weren't already there in the first place.

"What's the future like?" Odd asked.

Stella raised an eyebrow at him, "Now, the same. There's school, work, jobs, traffic, the usual stuff. My life? The X-files."

"Are you really related to Ulrich?" asked Yumi.

Stella smiled at Yumi. She had always liked Mrs. Stern. She had taught her self defense alongside Riley and Sakura. "By blood, no. I'm using the surname Stern as an alias with express permission from the Stern family. What is everyone looking at?"

She had caught some strange looks being sent her way when the others were speaking.

"You do realize you are as transparent as a ghost, don't you?" Aelita asked.

Stella looked at her arm that wasn't as solid as it used to be. "Now I do."

27 years in the future…

Dante was staring at the files on the screen frowning. When Stella had failed to come back to earth or appear on any scans of the remaining Lyoko regions all pertinent files involved had been pulled up to be accessed. Something did not belong. Sakura had been safely taken to the ice cream store and was back again with a cool, calm, and collected disposition silently eating her triple chocolate chunk ice cream.

Drew, on a laptop, was working as Riley observed all goings on fingering the speed dial on his cell phone. Drew whistled in amazement.

"I know where she is or at least was so to speak." Dante looked over at him attention diverted away from the screen and the goings on in Lyoko. The Sterns gathered around the computer.

Drew explained his findings. "I was looking through the archives of the supercomputer files from our parents years as fighters hoping to find some info in their DNA to help set up an accurate tracking search of Stella's DNA. I found this DNA code entry into the supercomputer 27 years ago. But there is a strange side to this whole situation. When scanned with all DNA strains recorded and entered into the supercomputer, we have a direct match with Stella, but that's not the strange part. It's who comes up as the next in the DNA matches."

Sakura read the list knowing what she would read before she laid eyes on it. She and Riley exchanged glances. A message passed between the two. It was time. Time for the truth to be told. The facts already told it, but it was up to them to explain.

Sakura spoke first with a hesitant voice, "Stella's not really our sister."

All eyes were on the two Sterns.

A new voice to the conversation spoke up, "The name on the birth certificate reads Halinor Estella Belpois." Heads swiveled toward the elevator.

"Stella?" asked Drew.

The brunette, brown eyed girl smiled at them, "but my friends and family call me Hallie."

Sticky Note #2 9/7/07: AWESOME! I am so uberly happy! You don't know how long I have been working towards this moment.

It took me 46 chapters, 119 typed pages, 187 written ones, the very end of last school year, all summer, and the first two days of school to get to this part of the story the turning point. Stella is really Hallie! HAHAHAHA!

Who saw this coming? Anyone? Who was totally shocked? Did you sort of see it? I need input because I, being the authoress, knew this point was coming, so I for one am not surprised.

Now the story is about half-way written. I may change the summary now. Hmm…


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47: **

27 years and 5 minutes ago…

"You aren't staying here," Jeremy stated as calmly as someone would state the sky is blue, the grass is green, Hitler was an insane dictator that caused the Holocaust.

"That's harsh," Ulrich observed.

The entire group was gathered around the supercomputer waiting for Jeremy's diagnosis of the situation. _Well, at least I'm going home._ Stella thought to herself.

Jeremy shook his head. "You don't understand. Due to her arrival to our time and the means of how she traveled, she is rejecting it. Stella's body is rejecting the time period she doesn't exist in. Her body is rejecting the time and the wormhole that brought her to this time through the supercomputer is starting to bring her back hence her transparence. The best thing we can do now is scan her back into the computer and let the scanners and the wormhole do the rest of the work. Hopefully she'll reach her appropriate time period."

The hopefully hung the air like an anvil hanging over Wil E. Coyote or the very same coyote hanging in empty space before holding up the "yikes" sign when gravity finally kicked in. Stella looked at the people in front of her. They looked back at her.

Hi, I'm about to be thrown around the time space continuum. I would like some type of reassurance that I'm not going to stay in it forever or pull another back to the future or the time machine.

She re-examined them again. In a weird way this was probably her fault or no ones due to uncontrolled forces working in the world, but did they even know the danger they would encounter causing her to go into hiding? Did they even know how much tragedy they would face? No they didn't because they hadn't come to those bridges yet.

But not all of those bridges they would cross would be riffed with tragedy, sorrow, and bad days. Plenty of sunny days and happy days were mixed in with the gloomy days just the way life is composed.

They walked her to the scanner, and she waved at them completely at peace with the unknown. What was the worse that could happen? She could die. She was going to die someday and until that time she wouldn't die. Pretty simple: I am immortal until my time. But the key to that was to not expect death to jump around the corner at every turn you come to. Paranoia would sum that up, and Stella wasn't paranonoid, at least not about death.

She waved good bye to them as the scanner hummed and the sides closed beginning the scanning process.

It was like returning to the past; she was riding on waves of light only forward instead of back. For a time she intercepted her past then stopped and was deposited back into her present.

OOO

She was back in her present in a tower all alone. She was bent over on her knees bowing to some unknown entity. She gradually pushed herself up from the platform and examined her hands. Snow white, but something was different. It was…gone. Whatever self made barrier, conscious or unconscious, willingly put up or put up by the circumstances, was gone. The scyphozoan had stripped it away.

Of course doing a quick mental check her memories were still obscure and hidden, but something had changed.

An idea dawned on Stella then. It was time to conduct a few more experiments. Not Stella experiments, but more along the lines of what the old her would have done when given freedom to breathe.

OOO

Stella stepped out of the scanners and raised her arms in front of her face. She wasn't translucent. That was a good thing, no repeats of the past.

Stella, Stella, Stella. Stella was so confining and constricting and choking. She lost her freedom being Stella, but sadly that was the way things worked. She wasn't even completely sure she was who her friends and family said she was. But the blood work, DNA tests, old photo albums, and pre accident memories said that she was who they said she was. More importantly that's what the birth certificate; her birth certificate said she was, so she obviously wasn't Stella. She was only pretending to be.

She calmly walked with a strangely fluid gait inside the elevator. She caught the tail end of the conversation. N one was paying attention to her as she assumed a hopefully normal stance leaning against the side of the elevator.

"DNA matches …strange…27 years ago."

Oh yeah, Dad had done that to properly scan her. He entered some of her DNA into the supercomputer for records. She knew exactly who would be on the list. There wouldn't be any Sterns' or Ishiyamas' as expected from her supposed parentage, but Belpois's, Hoppers' and Stones'.

Finally the truth would be revealed. Finally this leash, this choke collar of deception would be revealed. She could finally tell the truth! _But you can't!_ Screamed a voice of caution in her mind.

She disregarded it. They deserved to know. Dante deserved to know she didn't hate him. She was disappointed in him not telling her the complete truth, but who was she to judge? She wasn't telling everyone the entire truth either.

_But I can now._ She perked up thinking that. Safety precaution retorted back._ NO you can't! There will be hey to pay. _(Interjection) _I. DON'T. CARE!_

She wasn't given a choice in telling the truth. For her safety she had to be Stella Stern, but today was the day for the truth to be revealed. Secrets would be destroyed because she trusted her friends even with her life. Disobedience or not they deserved the truth.

And so she spoke, "The name on the birth certificate reads Halinor Estella Belpois," silence except fro Drew. He called for her in her false name in her alias reminding her like a slap in the face of the lies she was a part of.

A smile trickled onto her face as sudden unknown knowledge, a memory came to mind. ", but my friends call me Hallie."

OOO

Hallie alternated between smiling at her notebook and laughing out loud. Technically, she was grounded, during summer break no less. ("Do the words cruel and unusual punishment mean _anything_ to you?" "You're still grounded.")

The Stern family was vacationing with the Belpois family during the summer between Hallie's eighth and ninth grade years in school prior to her arrival at Kaddic High Academy. They were on a cruise ship sailing the Virgin Islands. This added a whole new meaning to the word grounded. It was more like state roomed because that was the only place Hallie was allowed to be in. Lunch a brief escape to the kitchens prepared in front of her and her parents for security ("you guys are paranoid. Say it with me now. Pear-a-noid." "You are still grounded, and these procedures may be an inconvenience, but they will keep you alive." "I am immortal until my time." "And we are going to make sure your time doesn't come for another three score years.") After lunch she was immediately escorted back to her stateroom, and she was let outside at 3 pm with conditions. No going anywhere by yourself. Keep a trusted individual, if not a bodyguard with you at all times, and text message your mother and I every ten minutes.

Oh yeah, there was also the part where only a group of no less then twenty teenage girls her age surrounded her in her own personal fan club to keep her safe. She had five secret service trained body guards surrounding the crush of girls and anyone who invaded the group not paid to be there was arrested and detained in the equivalent to the brig. Her parents were paranoid to the up most level.

Personally Terry, Terminator Hallie secretly dubbed her bodyguard, was an awesome person and friend who just happened to be a bit overprotective of Hallie. Hallie liked to forget she needed a bodyguard and why. Terry was a bit cyborgish like in attitude. Relatively unemotional, she had a dry sense of wit, but was an interesting friend. Then again Hallie had many friends that could be labeled interesting.

Sakura, sick of her brother's company and his ridiculous bubble space, decided to hang out with Hallie during her confinement to the stateroom time period. Sakura looked up from her Game boy to look at the chuckling Hallie.

Hallie was reading an RP she had borrowed from Kate and Squeaky two more zany friends that could be safely labeled as interesting that she knew from her neighborhood.

Sakura spoke first. Terry was standing outside the stateroom door in the hallway keeping tabs on human traffic in the nearly abandoned hallway with the other five bodyguards strategically placed in front of five other doors (all cabins in the hallway had been rented out for the Belpois's family exclusive use. They switched rooms and beds throughout the day and night for security reasons. "This is ridiculous and paranoid." "Maybe but if these methods kept Chandragupta Maurya alive and able to die peacefully at an old age they will keep you alive also. Your paid friends stay, but at least you have one real one with you.").

"Hey Hal?"

Hallie looked up, her hair newly dyed brown, but her green eyes shown through her glasses. "Yeah?"

"Are we doing the right thing?"

Hallie blinked at Sakura as her mind flew to the topic Sakura was referring to. Her future alias. There was so much potential and freedom with that one name that wasn't hers, but also a snare.

"I don't know."

It was the only way she could be free and attend Kaddic High Academy without these insane safety precautions she had to face her. She could attend a normal school, surrounded by normal people without having to worry about her life. Not that she did anyway; it was her parents that worried. But that freedom came with a price: giving up what little identity she had left.

"I'm obeying my parents and you are obeying yours. If anyone finds out, which they won't, our parents can take the heat for it. Anyway we'll be each others bestest friends in the entire world. It'll just be you, me and Riley against the world. We don't need any other friends, just ourselves. Besides we're practically family anyway with the way we are constantly together. Joined at the hip my mom says. It won't be so hard being siblings."

Sakura snorted, "What do you know? You don't have any siblings."

"True and I'm almost sort of glad. No one else has to share in this suffocating imprisonment."

"Almost?"

Hallie was quiet slightly introverted. "It would have been nice to have someone to share the experience with."

Sakura started thinking of ways to perk Hallie up, "But that's why you have me. Your best friend and sis."

A smile formed on Hallie's face, and Sakura relaxed slightly, but not all of the unease left. Hallie could survive anything, it seemed, including donning the name of Stern for a time. Sakura was just a worrywart who put up a tough front, but she had real reasons to worry.

1. Contrary to popular belief she, being Sakura, and Riley were on constant XANA alert causing them to have to be minute men. This could cause abandoning Hallie going against the agreement that Hallie could go to school if and only if Riley and Sakura kept eagle eyes on her.

2. There was Dante and her brother's friend, Drew. If they became Hallie's friends through herself and Riley hanging out with them, and subsequently Hallie hanging out with them, she could be connected to Lyoko making her a possible target for XANA.

3. for some strange reason she had the oddest feeling about Hallie, XANA, and Lyoko. Sakura felt that no matter how hard she and Riley would try to keep Hallie away from Lyoko Lyoko will find Hallie anyway.

_Parents,_ she concluded, _come up with the most ridiculous rules._

Sticky Note: Sorry for the delay. It was one day late bite me. I was at band all day yesterday. School, band practice, football game. I got home at 1:11 AM this morning. Like I said Bite me. I find the greatest inspiration for writing from real life (that's were the kissing cam story of mine came from a real baseball game I attended). Anyhoo I saw some really cute poses of sleeping people on the bus ride back. Aw, I'm rambling. REVIEW, please or bite me.


	48. Chapter 48

**Sticky Note:** Nope, Andrew. The measures I took are based off of actual history. The really long name I mentioned last chapter is the name of the first Gupta Emperor, I believe, in India. Look up first emperor of classical Indian civilization. It was pretty much my homework spilling over into my writing. Thanks for the comments: yes nothing is as it seems, but the plot doesn't seem to crazy, but then again I am the authoress.

**Chapter 48:**

Fast forward six months later to November Post Unveilment

Drew was the only one that spoke after the counterfeit Stern's confession

"Why were you pretending to be Riley and Sakura's sister? Why didn't you tell us who you were in the beginning?"

Stella, no, Hallie scratched the back of her head and giggled nervously. "It's a long story."

"We have all the time in the world," came Dante's frigid voice. It caused Hallie to freeze. Slowly she turned her head to where she could see Dante clearly and was shocked.

A mask lacking emotion had settled across Dante's features covering all that he felt sufficiently hiding it except for his eyes. His eyes spoke volumes of smoldering anger, hurt, and confusion coming closer and closer to erupting.

"Dante?" she asked taking a step forward, but her voice trailed off leaving the rest of her question unvoiced at his stony silence and refusal to speak.

Hallie and her confidence withdrew a bit. Her shoulders slightly hunched and her body posture got a bit more defensive, and she paused awhile in mid action as if scrambling to try to process this new piece of information.

She glanced around the room to Sakura, Riley and Drew. This did not compute. Why were they taking it so well, but Dante not? She focused back on Dante. He seemed to delight in not giving her any reaction, verbal or nonverbal, to work with.

"Well. It starts about a year and a half ago while I was in attending middle school at Kaddic Middle. My father inadvertently offended a major crime lord. He was participating in an investigation that ultimately put the crime lord's cousin in the clink, jail, slammer. He pretty much found the vital information needed to convict said cousin. The crime lord started sabotaging my father's work and eventually threatening my family.

"So, my parents pulled me out of school, so we could go into hiding until law enforcement tracked down and jailed the crime lord. I left school under the pretense my family was moving, which we were, and eventually yes, the crime lord was put in jail with a life sentence. It happened in June of this previous summer. It was all over the news. My family came out of hiding, but we are still wary and a bit paranoid.

"It took at least a good month to wear down my parents so that I could go to public school again. They finally did let me, but there were some conditions. I had to take up the alias of Estella Stern, the daughter of Ulrich and Yumi Stern, close family friends, sister to Riley and Sakura."

To be more specific about the conditions they were:

I must pretend to be the daughter of Ulrich and Yumi Stern. Estella Stern. I must dye my pink hair brown and wear brown contacts to cover up my green eyes, regularly re-dye my hair brown, and visit a spray on tan salon to keep my skin tone bronze. My ability to stay out of trouble would ultimately decide whether I attended Kaddic High Academy or any other school outside of home school for my sophomore year of high school. I am forbidden to tell anyone who I really am aside from the principal. To tell anyone would be a security risk for my safety and would result in my immediate removal from Kaddic High Academy. 

"And that's pretty much it."

Hallie carefully looked around the room taking in everyone's expressions.

Drew seemed fascinated and looked as if he was itching to write this all down. That screen play/ movie script hobby he had was starting to emerge with the creative juices flowing in that mind of his.

Sakura seemed a bit irked over something Hallie had said or more accurately didn't say. Riley was patiently waiting it out. Dante was as cold and withdrawn as before. If there was an ounce of understanding in him, he hid it well.

There was that look again from Sakura, and Riley was still waiting just waiting for her to come out and say it. She knew what they wanted her to say; she sent them a pretty clear gaze that clearly read _No way, no how, nuh-uh. Nope. I've spilled enough; my lips are sealed._

Riley calmly spoke foregoing the waiting. Hallie was stubborn. He would be waiting until the trumpet blew before she spilled.

"You're forgetting your accident." He calmly stated.

Oh yeah, THAT accident. The non-pertinent accident that was on a need to know basis. If you didn't know already, you didn't need to.

"O-oh," Hallie looked at the ground and started fiddling with her hair. "Can't we just not speak of it ever again, and pretend it never happened because to me it didn't,"

Hallie was desperate. The accident was personal and private. She didn't really want to air that skeleton from her wacky past.

Sakura with determination burning in her gaze and a just try to hide expression in her eyes walked up to Hallie. Nope, Sakura wasn't going to let that sleeping dog lie. Let's air all the laundry now why don't we.

"No, we can't," Sakura spoke in a slightly sarcastic tone. Hallie wasn't getting any sympathy from her. "Speak. Now. I dyed my hair brown for you. You will tell the entire truth."

"Alright, alright. When I left Kaddic enroute to the airport I was involved in a car accident. The crime lord was suspected at being at the center of the incident, but no one could prove it."

Drew had a shocked look on his face, and Dante seemed mildly interested. Well, that was better then being cold and distant. Hallie blushed and stammered out a few words waving around her arms a bit. She didn't particularly like talking about herself.

"Um, the car was totally totaled. I was thrown out of the car and landed in the mud. The car rolled on top of me."

A look of alarm was spreading across Sakura's face, along with Drew's, and Riley's. Hallie didn't look at Dante. She hadn't been too specific about the details to her closest friends because she didn't want to frighten them, but she if she had to tell the entire truth then she was going to tell the entire truth.

He knew. Hallie didn't know how he knew, but she knew he knew. And this wasn't the accident she was referring to. _Dante's always been smart._

"It had been raining for a week before I left. If it hadn't, I would probably be dead now. Since the ground was muddy I was pushed down by the car but not crushed. Evidently a group of people lifted the car long enough to pull me out. When I woke up in the hospital, I was clueless. I had no memory of the accident. The doctors theorize the severe emotional trauma of the accident caused the loss of my memory. That or it was my head injury."

She took her cues from Sakura. Sakura looked shocked but dissatisfied. She made a circle motions with her hand to tell Sakura to keep going. Inhale; Exhale.

"I have no memory of my years in middle school. The accident knocked it out of me. In short I have amnesia, hopefully temporary."

The strange girl with brown hair and eyes claiming to be Halinor Belpois smiled uncertainly at Drew and Dante before averting her eyes to look at the ceiling. Neither Dante nor Drew gave voice to any reply. The reason? Drew's cell phone had just rung.

Thank you modern technology for perfectly destroying such a pertinent phase in the development of the friendship through trials and interesting developments. It is almost as bad as Starbucks invading the school system. Almost.

Drew immediately answered his phone, "Hello?"

Hallie's form flickered, turned transparent and disappeared. Sakura's eyes widened in shock. Drew looked confused and was distracted from his phone call, which didn't have anyone on the other end; what a coinky dink.

Dante sighed, opened his eyes, and moved his fingers down from his temple. He turned around in the chair and started a search of the remaining regions on Lyoko for _Hallie._

He suddenly seemed to notice the silence in the room and responded.

"Hologram. I sprung it, and the sender of it was Hallie. From the look on the Sterns' faces she was telling the truth."

The ability to vocalize sounds came back to Sakura though not stringing them together in a sentence, and she started sputtering incoherent words. Wisely deciding to be quiet, Sakura looked at the computer screen.

Dante read the results of the search and pulled up the Sector 5 map. Sure enough a blinking dot inside a tower was illuminated on the map.

"Hallie, do you enjoy scaring to death everyone who cares about you?"

"Oh, hi Dante! What did you think of the hologram?"

Dante rested his head in his hands; elbows propped on the keyless part of the keyboard and rubbed his temples.

"Simply _lovely_. Where were you?"

"Umm, I found myself 27 years in the past and saw my parents. My dad and a time wormhole brought me back. Ooh! Sis, I saw your parents too and happy feet's. Anyhoo, I found myself in a tower; I went outside, found myself in Sector 5, and then I decided to do an experiment. And it worked!"

Dante straightened to an upright position with perfect posture. He started typing rapidly.

"Now that I know exactly what is wrong with you, I can fix it. Next time you masquerade as someone other then yourself, don't make a Lyoko card for your alias and let one of XANA's minions get in the scanner with you, Hal."

His harsh tone struck Hallie hard. There was silence over the speakers.

"Okay," Hallie's voice was smaller now and the energy was subdued.

Dante finished his typing and pressed enter. The program ran scanning Hallie's profile. Soon the correct file popped up and a flush of color was added on Hallie's Lyoko form.

"Awesome! I have color! I'm going exploring. See you guys in an hour."

The labeled dot that was Hallie moved through the corridors of Sector 5.

Sakura snapped out of whatever passive mood that had held her inactive.

"Get her out of there,"

Dante leveled a cool gaze at Sakura and stood up.

"Since it seems you have forgotten many things from the days we four were a team, I will remind you. When Hallie is this pigheaded you have to manually devirtualize her. I'm going to retrieve her."


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49:**

Hallie was running through Sector 5. She wasn't being chased nor was she running from anything. Hallie was simply running for the love of running.

As she ran through the corridors she followed a gut instinct which told her exactly which direction to turn. She was deep inside the sector not at the core, but at a place close to it.

Left, run down the long corridor; take another left, three consecutive rights, run down the other long corridor. Stop. Slowly turn around. Bingo.

There it was. It was beautiful. It was exactly what Hallie had been looking for, for so long. _If this is a testimony of my memory returning, I won't be clueless forever. _

It was a door way, minus the door, to a room. What was inside the room was what Hallie had been searching for, for years. It was a 3-D holographic map of Lyoko exactly like the one in the super computer control room. This map was more then a map. It was a search engine. The question she wished to typed in cycled through her mind.

How to devirtualize the prodigy.

A screen popped up for typing things, like questions, in. Hallie placed her hands on it.

_Do I really want to give up so easily?_

That thought gave her pause. True, blasting Dante to bits repeatedly without the target disappearing (except for when he moved) was fun, but ineffective seeing how she couldn't hit him, but did she really wish to have it all end this soon?

_No more experiments. No more driving Dante batty or trying to beat the tar out of his lightening quick iron hide. Am I really read to give that all up?_

Hallie considered before typing into the search engine her question. The writing screen disappeared; an hourglass appeared showing the search engine was thinking/ gathering data. The results and the map spun to life. The answer caused Hallie to take a double take.

"What? That can't be right."

"Hallie," a masculine voice intoned before her.

"EEK!" Hallie squealed in shock spinning around and releasing an energy wave. She blinked in shock. That was different.

000

She was just as Dante remembered yet different. She was older and jumpier, but her aim still needed improvement as before. He dodged her light pink wave of energy with ease just out of habit.

Yes, she was Hallie. There was the pink hair and the wide green eyes. Why hadn't he seen it? Simply, he wasn't looking for it and then ignored all obvious clues such as the sudden appearance of a Stern he did not know of, her nightmares, the code Lyoko, and of course, the rare random energy outbursts like the one he just witnessed.

Before Hallie had "moved", she had great control over it, but caught off guard things went…kablooie like cesium meeting water. The energy outbursts in itself were based off of the heart of Lyoko chafing to XANA's presence on Lyoko.

Dante frowned. Hallie's card was fixed meaning she had her original offensive and defensive capabilities save the shape shifting abilities drained from her. That could prove troublesome if she continued having emotional outbursts of untamed power. She'd end up devirtualizing all of Lyoko if she sneezed wrong.

Yep, Hallie the ticking time bomb. Her outbursts were overshadowed solely by Sakura's temper. After Dante finished mentally knocking his head against a brick wall with several solid thumps over how clueless he was, he focused on the task at hand or really the person in front of him.

Hallie had the same outfit from when she was first scanned into the supercomputer nearly two years ago. Her hair was its natural bubblegum pink; her leaf green eyes were still wide with shock over Dante's announcement of his presence, and her reaction to it. Her pants and half shirt were a soft baby blue, the undershirt a gauzy white and offsetting her pink hair was a blue headband.

Dante realized he just might have been staring at her for an excessive amount of time.

000

_Why is Dante staring at me? Or is he staring behind me? No, he's definitely looking behind me._

Indeed Dante's attention had averted to the screen behind Hallie to the typed question Hallie had submitted and the answer.

**Where is Dante?**

There the map had kicked in and highlighted the two dots in the room. The typed answer was:

**Behind you.**

Hallie had been expecting it. Deep down she had, but she was shocked none the less when Dante had arrived.

_What do I do know? _

000

"Hey Dantes," Hallie said a bit unsure of herself. Another clue for Dante although it was a little known fact. The old Hallie's nickname for him was Dantes.

"Uhm," she hummed uncertainly shifting on her feet, "what's up, doc?"

Dante stared down his nose at her with a disapproving look on his face.

"You lack control?"

Hallie blinked at him.

"Excuse me?"

Dante shot a bolt of lightening at her. Hallie dodged hitting the dirt. Looking up she saw Dante standing over her with a red crackling ball of electricity hovering above his hand framing his face in shadow. He looked creepy when he did that.

All of a sudden the roaming energy had manifested into a hovering sphere the lateral area made up of tiny sparks jumping in and out holding the spherical shape in strange movements.

"You do it," he commanded her.

Hallie stared at him in confusion. The dots did not connect. The red ball of electricity disappeared, and Dante rephrased his command.

"Make your own energy ball,"

Hallie looked down at the floor with a sudden sense of shame.

"I've forgotten how," she whispered.

Dante sat down on the floor Indian style and motioned for Hallie to do the same.

"You're a quick learner, Hal. You'll relearn this quickly."

A realization dawned over Hallie.

"You knew me," came her soft reply.

Dante could see the soft Hallie coming up to surface. The sharp, intelligent, but shy person she had been when they first met two years ago.

"Yes,"

Hallie turned her pink haired-head to look at Dante who was sitting next to her. Dante was staring straight ahead of her lost in thought.

"We were friends," she added with more confidence. For a minute she experienced a flash of uncertainty due to Dante's prolonged absence of speech. He finally spoke but continued staring straight ahead avoiding her eyes.

"Correct."

Hallie felt relieved. Deep down she had always innately trusted Dante, except with the Scyphozoa and that was a notable obvious exception, but somewhere deep down she wondered if Dante considered her a friend like she did him. That one moment when he delayed in speaking one of her deepest darkest fears almost came true.

"It's frustrating forgetting things. The answers are on the tip of your tongue. You know the answer, but it simply doesn't come, and that makes it all the more frustrating that no matter how hard you work or what you do the answers do not come."

Silence draped over the room with the blue hues characteristic to Sector 5. Dante finally spoke.

"Raise your right hand," Dante told Hallie, "And draw on the memory that triggers the energy."

Dante walked Hallie through the steps until when she looked at her hand it was covered with a ragged pattern of light pink dancing sparks of electricity. Dante observed her progress.

"It's a start."


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50:**

Sakura was trying not to hyperventilate as the Stern and Della Robia kids watched the interaction between the Belpois child and the child of XANA on screen. Riley placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Relax, she's fine."

"But what if he kills her?"

"He won't."

"What if she kills him?"

"That's probable, but not going to happen. This is Hallie and Dante we're talking about."

"Our own Romeo and Juliet," Drew said leaning against the chair his head resting on his crossed arms. "If we ever were going to have a pair it would be those two."

Riley spoke quietly to himself, "And you two would be the blind, oblivious, mule headed friends refusing to admit your feelings and start dating." Sakura and Drew did not hear him.

On the view screen Dante tapped Hallie on the shoulder, and she devirtualized with Dante following her. The three in the supercomputer room sat calmly not saying a word waiting for the two to appear.

Drew broke the silence, "So, Hallie went to the same middle school you two went to."

"Yes," the Sterns answered in unison.

"So why aren't you two helping her?"

Sakura froze as the relevance dawned on her. Riley answered for her.

"Dante's fighting style is the most similar to Hallie's out of the three of us."

Drew nodded. "Alright, next question. Why were you two so overprotective of St-_Hallie_ if you two aren't related?"

Sakura spoke up this time. Her voice was soft, "She's our friend. We've been the siblings Hallie has never had. We're naturally protective of her. Even though our parents told us to keep an eye out on her, we would have done it anyway. She's risking a lot, you know."

Drew cocked an eyebrow, but was unable to ask for a further explanation. Dante and Hallie had entered the room.

"Guys! Curfew is in half an hour. We need to go, go, go!" Hallie called clapping her hands together for emphasis on every "go".

"Sure Stell!" Sakura called and heaved herself out of the computer chair. The rest of the group started to congregate toward the elevator. Of course, he of many questions, Drew, had one last comment to make.

"What's with the whole alias thing popping back up?" he asked as he, Sakura and Riley entered the elevator. The doors closed behind him, and the lift began.

Riley, the tall, quiet leader explained. "At school she is Stella Stern. In public she is Stella Stern. In private she is Stella Stern, but in reality she is Halinor Belpois. The only people aware of this are Principal Delmas, Sakura and I, our respective parents, and now you two. Reality will not interfere with school, public, or private life. Stella's life and ability to continue boarding at Kaddic High Academy depend on no slip ups. So far we three have been successful, but will you two be able to handle this elaborate deception?"

Drew solemnly answered, "Yes." Dante quietly agreed also.

OOO

My mind is mush," Riley declared to the lunch table. Sakura lowered her fork of ravioli and peered at her brother in shock.

"He speaks. I didn't know he had it in him."

Sakura got in her brother's face and pointed her fork at him in suspicion.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

"He's a post midterm zombie just like the rest of us," Drew airily said spearing his own ravioli off of one of his three plates, all filled with ravioli.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Drew, "Don't mention the word zombie to me again," She shivered when she said the forbidden word; it starts with a "z". Stella nodded in agreement with the above statement. That XANA attack had been _freaky._

Midterms were almost over. After lunch was the last round to take and then FREEDOM! Movies in class until the winter holidays arrived. Two weeks of pure bliss away from school, and all its hassles.

Stella wrinkled her brow in thought. "Hey, guys. What are we going to do over the holidays concerning XANA?"

Sakura swallowed a bite of ravioli. "We will do what we always have done, Camp Baby-sit. We convince our parents to stay in town, and we come running to deactivate the tower."

"That's not going to work for me. My parents and I are going to be…away." Stella finished quietly and for a second one could almost see a look of sadness on her face. It quickly disappeared as if it had ever been there in the first place. The nonstop sunny smile of holiday cheer, despite the cursed exams, was back on as she changed the subject.

"What are you guys doing for the holidays?"

"A HUGE family reunion for us," Sakura commentated spearing a piece of broccoli. "Drama, angst, high tempers, hostility. All will be present at the Stern family reunion. After that we are visiting my mother's family. Oh the joy."

"Cool," Stella nodded, "And you Drew?"

The blonde, in the process of drinking a Purple Flurp, stopped the excessive chugging, placed the empty can down with a satisfactory thunk, and belched. It would have one a solid 10 if being judged by other quality competing belchers. Unfortunately, the girls at the table were of the fold manners matter, so he was rated a -10 in politeness. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, but except for the dip in her good graces she let it slide.

"My dad and I are going skiing…in Transylvania. We're doubling work for looking of a location for his movie, Dracula, with fun, the skiing."

Dante joined the conversation. "I will be spending the holidays with my family in town."

Stella gave him a strange/confused look. "You're going to willingly spend time on Lyoko with XANA?"

Dante closed his eyes and smirked, "No. I was adopted into the Millard family two years ago. I will spend the holidays with my fellow adopted siblings. There are seven of them: four girls and three guys."

Stella pushed away her tray of cafeteria muck. "I am surprised. You are part of a big family. Why are you boarding at school?"

Another smirk, "For my privacy and sanity. The youngest is seven, the oldest 23. We're all adopted, and I am being drawn into the tight knit group."

Dante eyed Drew and Riley in a manner Riley recognized. It was the look all protective males gave potential predators of those under their protection. Riley sent a look like that to whatever foolish male tried to flirt with Sakura or Stella.

"I wouldn't suggest dating any of my sisters," Dante tactfully said still sending off the subtle beware message, "You have four older brothers to fight and have pound on you if you break their hearts."

Sakura broke out laughing at the two guys responses. For the first time that day Stella had a true smile adorning her face.

_Mission__ accomplished_. Dante thought giving Stella's reaction a brief reaction of a small smile himself. While Drew blustered in shock and protests of how he wouldn't even dream of dating a friend's sister (this causing Sakura's laughs to halt into a more sober mood) and Riley's understanding nod, Dante briefly thought to himself. _She's been far too gloomy lately. _

**Sticky Note 10-07-2007: I'm late! I'm late! (I know) I'm late! **

**One word will summarize my late post (well, really one acronym) BOA (Bands of America). I had to awaken at the ungodly hour of 2:50 AM Saturday morning so I could be at my school by 3:45 AM so I could be at a 4:00 AM rehearsal and I arrived home at 1:10 AM Sunday morning and was in bed at approximately 2:10 AM that same morning. I went to bed at 9:00 ish PM Friday after typing part, not all of this chapter. **


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51:**

**Sticky Note #1: Andrew, scroll down to the end of the chapter to Sticky Note #2 for the answer to your question.**

Stella shrieked and jumped backwards one foot as her ball of energy self destructed. Her green eyes darted across the clearing toward Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. Dante gazed impassively back at her nervous glance.

She knew that he knew she was blowing it and that she was nervous. What was he going to do? At this insane hour during the day normal people did not act in an encouraging way toward repeated idiotic mistakes. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

He spoke, his voice as neutral as his face, "You're not concentrating. Your concentration is wavering, and as your concentration lessens, your weapons stability lessens."

Stella's eyes traveled back down to the fading scorch mark on Lyoko. So concentration was the key, eh? Stella inhaled slowly taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before closing her eyes and starting anew.

It was beautiful. A perfect cotton candy pink sphere of energy hovered centimeters above her hand. It floated above her hand and to a place an arms length in front of her face. Stella, immensely pleased with herself if not a bit smug, started the formation of a second sphere. A smug smile started working its way across Stella's face.

_Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this…_ So ran the happy thought across Stella's mind.

BOOM!

Stella fell backwards onto her bottom in shock. It had gone ka-blooey because of one stray thought. _So Close!_

"You're wasting my time."

_Uh-oh._

Across the clearing Dante stared down his nose at Stella, literally. He was standing; she was sitting. The height difference did play a factor in this.

"I'm sorry,"

"I'm sorry doesn't cut it Hal," Dante interjected.

He was serious. The look in his eye, his stance, body langue, and tone screamed it. He had even committed taboo by calling Stella by a variation of her real name. He meant business.

This matter was serious. A situation where life and death was the direct outcome should not be taken lightly, and preparing for such a situation should be a serious matter where the focus was solely on the task at hand not the distractions from outside the situation.

"You won't have time to concentrate when you are up against block, kankrelats, crawlers and mega tanks. You'll be thinking on your feet trying to survive and take down the obstacles in your path. Without concentrating on mastering this ability now you aren't helping yourself. If you refuse to take this seriously-don't interrupt me, Hal-then you are wasting my time."

Condescending done Dante turned and wavered out of existence. Stella jolted forward onto her feet in shock.

"Dante?"

Whatever resentment to her chastisement, a just one mind, had vanished in her sudden confusion, Stella was alert now. Settling back into a defensive stance Stella eyed her surroundings guard up. Dante had been known to throw out unknown obstacles on the fly. If that was the case then the current situation was possibly a test of her concentration under assault or something of that ilk.

Today had been a crummy day with the reviews for the exams, spilling black shoe polish—don't ask—onto her favorite shirt (FYI shoe polish does NOT come out, period), and now the training session, a failed attempt to redeem her crummy day, was following trend. But back to business.

Stella did a 360 taking in the clearing. There wasn't anything alarming that stood out. Tall desert walls rose up above her head defining the temporary practice arena. Stella's eyes latched onto a flash of purple and a translucent material. What she saw caused her eyes to go wide in terror.

Her no was spoken in terror barely leaving her mouth to be carried on a nonexistent wind to the far off regions in Lyoko where no one would hear her tiny utterance of terror. Solitary and alone the no floated away weightless leaving the one who uttered the word far behind trapped in an arena. The silence and tranquility of the desert region was split with a scream as dark fears came to light.

OOO

"That was cruel!" Fire burned behind Stella's brown contact lenses that efficiently camouflaged her naturally green eyes. She poked a finger into Dante's shoulder to emphasize her point.

"Cruel!"

"It was necessary. I needed to see how you would react under pressure from a highly stressful situation. I had no idea _that_ would show nor did I hold any intention of willfully causing you harm."

"But trapping me in a highly realistic illusion with my deepest fears brought to the light of day is a cruel way to do it." Stella argued back still in a rage of indignation. It had definitely been a crummy day.

Dante angled his chair slightly towards Stella's trembling accusatory finger.

"Hal," he said in an intensely soft voice, the tone that always grabbed attention not by how loud it was, but by how quiet. His eyes never left the computer screen as he delivered the proverbial bucket of ice water to Stella's anger, "Go back to your room and sleep. It's three in the morning."

"_You're_ the one who suggested the training,"

"But _you_ picked the time." Dante finally riveted his gaze from the functions on the computer window to Stella's camouflaged eyes. His next statement split through the smoke and mirrors Stella had carefully fabricated when calling for this training session. He solidly hit the truth dead center.

"You had another nightmare."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement. Stella avoided Dante's piercing gaze that hinted slightly at concern hidden beneath the frankness and business tone in the onyx depths. She didn't want her personal problems interfering with her friends lives more then they had already.

In quiet obstinacy Stella stared down the floor refusing to neither confirm nor deny Dante's statement. She didn't have to confirm it. They both knew it was the truth whether Stella acknowledged it or not.

"Go to sleep," Dante ordered turning back to the computer ending the silent stand off. Stella's head jerked up, and her gaze rested on the back of Dante's head.

"But it's dangerous to be out this late at night alone," Stella said in a small voice that was as plaintive as a lamb's bleat. Dante finished typing a line of text in a dialogue box before closing all the functions of the computer for the night. Standing he crossed the room to where the elevator waited to transport its passengers.

"Let's go,"

OOO

Stella burrowed deeper into her winter coat shivering at the cold wishing there was not such thing as a wind chill factor. Evil wind, stealing precious body warmth from a person who did _not_ like the cold, period. Dante walked beside the shivering Stella oblivious to the wind. Stella found his attitude concerning the cold annoyingly passive. How could he not be affected?

She didn't want to admit it, but Dante was right, about the nightmare. She had been jolted from her sleep and warm cocoon of blankets and body heat to greet the cool chill of her frigid dorm room due to another nightmare. Not only that, but she had simply insisted on training at 2:30 am in the morning (the main motivation being that it couldn't be any colder at the factory then it was in her dorm room. She was wrong).

2:30 am is an ungodly hour to be awake, but it is infinitely more peaceful then hustle and bustle of the day. The insane hour is also a very, very cold one.

It was the last week before winter holidays started, and it was already halfway through the week. With the holidays came imprisonment at least in Stella's most depressed, pessimistic viewpoint. The sugarplums dancing in her head filled 90 of her conscious mind 99 of the time.

It was confusing to be her. At school she was free in a sense under the name of Stella Stern. Halinor Belpois had to hide this holiday. _I'm like Rapunzel locked away in a tower away from the world, but "Stella" is my own personal glass cage. I'm stuck in two different prisons. No matter whom I choose to be I am not free. What fun._

The thought of the glass cage brought back the image from the illusion she had briefly been held under on Lyoko. Bars had fallen from the sky surrounding her before fading out of sight. Running into the unseen barriers trying to escape from what had appeared behind had driven her to a point of near hysteria.

It was official. Stella had Scyphozoaphobia plus being trapped in a confined area and unable to devirtualize the annoying pest had done wonders for Stella's sanity and composure.

The tentacles had trapped her, and she had been fully dreading the invasion when the settings had flickered and the realization had come that it wasn't real; that the whole thing was an illusion. The Scyphozoa had disappeared immediately afterward, and Stella was brought home white as a sheet and scared past tears.

Stella glanced at Dante and contemplated if she should speak. Training or not he had gone a little to far bringing in even an illusion of the Scyphozoa. That brought the question to mind that had been haunting her for days. Was Code: XANA affecting Dante's behavior and personality? Stella uneasily pushed the thought away with a note to investigate and evaluate the matter later.

"I'm sorry for being so moody lately," she murmured looking at the ground. Their shadows stretched in front of them courtesy of the streetlights above.

"You've been worried about the holidays," Dante calmly observed, "you seem to easily dismiss the fact that if your family rallies together it will be a wonderful holiday."

"Maybe," Stella mused, and silence lapsed between them. The only audible sound was the cold wind howling, fabric rubbing against fabric, and their footfalls echoing in the stillness of the night.

The dorms came in sight, and Dante held the door open to the great indoors for Stella. WARM AIR! HEAT! (Bliss) Stella did an inner happy dance before heading toward the stairway leading to the girls' dorm building. Dante silently followed her to the door. He didn't say anything; he just watched Stella pause before turning around and flashing him a tired smile.

"Good night Dants," with that Stella swung the door open and trudged off toward her dorm room a.k.a. the icebox. The door slammed shut behind her, or it would have if Dante had not caught it before quietly closing it.

Black eyes bore into the wood pattern on the door. Dante stared off into the space in contemplation. XANA had been quiet lately, inactive, passive, on the defense. It was all the same to Dante, and it was putting him on the edge.

It was causing his judgment to slide which could explain why he would even think about unintentionally hurting one of his friends. It could also almost pass for an excuse as to why he had tested one of his new developing powers on a friend. Almost but not quite. Dante had his own demons he was beginning to recognize and battle.

**Sticky Note #2:** **Answering questions (because I can)**

From: Andrew ()

-------------------

Why are these sparring matches occuring?

**All right. The answer is: Stella (who in reality is Hallie Belpois, just to keep you up to date) has amnesia (Reread 48 if you want to full explanation on that). She had forgotten all of her years spent during middle school including the time she fought XANA. Yes, she vaguely remembers some aspects of it, but she is relearning everything from before and the sparring matches are for a.) relearning what she has forgotten and b.) making sure she can defend herself that way she won't die on Lyoko from losing all her life points (yes, that is still around.)**

**Sticky Note #3**

**October can be safely labeled as the month of band for me. Meaning, expect late updates. I will try to get out a post weekly but be patient. We all know what busy schedules are. Stay in school and keep your grades up readers.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52:**

The last day before winter break was chaotic. Loud chatter and excitement filled the school halls. Friends exchanged gifts, farewells, and hugs. The Lyoko warriors exchanged responsibilities and safety precautions.

"When we get back from break, you had better be in one piece Drew. We don't need you with a broken leg from extreme skiing," Sakura threatened the blonde. Instead of being intimidated, Drew laughed and ruffled Sakura's hair to her annoyance.

Riley and Dante were going over Lyoko procedures.

"If XANA attacks-"

"I will stalemate him."

Both exchanged looks before both looks traveled to the remaining Lyoko warrior's figure sitting on a window seat looking out the window. Riley lowered his voice before speaking.

"I would feel better if a holder of the Code Lyoko code was in town."

Dante shrugged, "We aren't in control of her family situation, and I have," he briefly paused as a smile of private humor spread on his face before resuming, "_experimented_ on whether I still do possess the Code Lyoko code. In short, the forest region is down three towers."

Riley nodded and glanced back at Stella. Stella, who had been languidly leaning against the window, sat up right with a start.

"It's snowing!"

On the window pane tiny snowflakes clung to the glass like a spider to its silken web. Sakura and Drew came to sit beside Stella to view the fluttering flakes of white falling from the heavens.

A car pulled up in the circular drive in front of the school.. It was a uniform black car. It was followed by three other exact replicas of said car.

"There's our ride," Stella said, picked up her messenger bag and hung it on her shoulder.

"Merry Christmas," she sedately wished Drew and Dante before turning down the hallway and resolutely walking toward her holidays. Riley followed after her, and Sakura followed also after stopping to hug Drew and Dante. Before running after the two retreating figures, Sakura pushed a box into each guys hand and gave them her farewells. Outside figures swarmed in the chaos of leaving, four identical cars were loaded and left Kaddic High Academy.

OOO

Only later when the Lyoko warriors were scattered across the globe was when they opened their gifts from each other.

Dante surrounded by his rambunctious siblings carefully opened his gifts: chocolate, a flash drive with a storage capacity of one gigabyte, and a journal. The chocolate was from the Sterns. The flash drive probably had some movie stored on it courtesy of Drew and his father, and the journal was from Hallie.

_"You don't keep a journal?" she had once asked him in complete shock._

_Dante looked at her with a blank gaze; emotions were still a bit foreign for his participation. "No, is that bad?"_

_"Is that bad? Does XANA want to take over the world? Yes, well morally it is not bad, but you miss out on the opportunity to record all your memories and the opportunity to look back and see how you have changed from one point in time to another. Journals are record keepers. They hold all your memories, and memories precious, true treasure."_

_"Hmm…"_

A simple title in gold lettering was stamped across the black leather cover: The Record Keeper.

A tiny voice accompanied with big brown eyes peered up at Dante. The youngest sibling in the Millard household rested her chin on her hands and cocked her hand at her big brother.

"Dante?"

"Yes, Claire,"

"What's that?" she asked while sucking on the end of her white blonde hair braid and pointing at the leather bond book. Dante looked down at the book in his hands and smiled.

"This is a treasure, Claire."

OOO

The Stern reunion was formal in all aspects. Dinner was at a black tie restaurant where the prices weren't even marked on the menu, formal attire was worn, and the awkward and uncomfortable tension at the table prevented anyone from speaking.

Sakura was dying in her dress. The mantra that she repeated to herself over and over was: _It only comes once a year. It only comes once a year. I only have to wait _–discreetly check the time- _three more hours until this is over. NO!_ And after this, it was five hours to drive to her other grandparents' house. _Why must holidays exist?_

Her brown eyes fell to her wrist. On her wrist was her charm bracelet sparkling in the light with its many charms. Sakura examined her newest additions: A cherry blossom-from her brother-, a boxing glove-Drew-, half a heart that had the word "best" on it- Stella had the other half hanging on a silver chain-, and a jump drive-from Dante.

Sakura smiled secretly to herself. She had stashed all of Riley's presents in the car. He wouldn't get his presents-chocolate, a soccer ball stress ball, and a silver hoop earring-(mother would throw a fit if Riley pierced an ear; he hadn't, but Sakura wanted to liven up the atmosphere) until after the supper was over. . Sakura checked her watch again. _2 hours 58 minutes and 27 seconds until the torture is over!_

OOO

"What's Transylvania like?"

"Pretty cold. Sorry Stel, Dad's calling. See you at school. Later."

"Bye Drew,"

Hallie closed her cell phone. She was standing near the fireplace where the fire crackled and heat soaked into her khaki pants. Drew had called her and was apparently having a marvelous time in Transylvania with his Dad. Surprisingly, Hallie could say the same about her family holiday.

Hallie was wearing black rimmed glasses, letting her green eyes sparkle for all of her family to see. Her hair was loose with pink roots being shown off proudly. Hallie's parents sat side by side working on a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, Manheim Steam Roller playing in the background, and a bowl of popcorn next to them.

Her family was spending the holiday in a safe house. Yes, the danger was gone, but her family was still acting on the cautious side.. Over all it was a rather peaceful holiday, one of the most peaceful the Belpois family had experienced since the incident. The cozy atmosphere relaxed Hallie banishing away all dark thoughts brought up lately. She'd been having nightmares again.

_Let's not think about that._

Hallie lingered by the fire before heading outside for some fresh air or so she told her parents. Her parents were in a heated discussion about whether the blue/red piece fit best with the red one or the red/green one did. In Hallie's hand was a small wrapped box.

Sakura had passed along the box the morning of their departure from school saying everyone had pitched in to get it for her. With a conspirator's tone she had told Hallie it was Dante's idea. Sakura had also forbidden Hallie to open it until she was alone.

Hallie stepped outside onto the porch. The porch was devoid of all light except for one solitary lantern. Hallie, with the stubbornness of a train of mules, ignored the vile cold and opened her present. It was a jewelry box, and when she saw what was inside Hallie's heart melted.

It was a locket. The front was a plain rectangle, gold it looked, and what Hallie saw on the inside touched her heart. There were two pictures in the locket. One was of the five of them: Dante, Riley, Sakura, Drew and herself in her Stella disguise.

The second picture wasn't as recent. It was old. She looked like a kid. They all did. The picture was from her days in Middle School. Everyone excluding Drew, who hadn't arrived on the scene yet, was in the picture at the crossroads between child and adult.

_Ah, teenagers, not children, yet not adults. A very awkward stage of life._

How things had changed. In the middle school picture, Hallie had just turned 13, Dante was introduced to earth school, and Riley and Sakura were puny. All the guys had been puny in size/ lacking in height instead of being annoyingly tall like they were now.

Who knew that given two years the guys would shoot up and sprout in height. They now dwarfed Hallie who had stopped growing at 5'4", and Sakura was about 5'6". In the picture Hallie's hair was its natural slightly wavy pink, and she was wearing a pair of black rimmed glasses. A wave of nostalgia hit Hallie. _We've all grown up so much since then._

Hallie undid the clasp, and when she joined her parents indoors, she was wearing her new locket. Her new treasure.

**Sticky Note # 11/02/07: Good news! Marching competitions are over! AND there is only one more football game left. This means I have more time to write this story. FYI I owe U, the readers, another chapter which I am typing up.**


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53:**

Alas, vacation is a fleeting time filled with memorable events and for the reluctant boarding student, passes to swiftly. And so, as the holidays ended, the Lyoko warriors returned to school the age old routine started up again.

Stomp, stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, stomp, clap. "We will, we will rock you. We will, we will rock you."

The song had the grainy, wavering static characteristic of a radio which exactly where the song was coming from, an old fashioned radio alarm clock. The song continued rolling on, and the girl underneath the covers covered her black haired head with her pillow.

"Eyer don whannah gerrumph," (translation: I don't want to get up!), came the unintelligible groan of a pained, sleep-deprived mind. The pain embodied by the sun, school and morning. The clock read 7:02 am.

It was the first day of school, and Sakura was already late and oblivious. She snoozed through the song in a cocoon of warmth before waking in shock with the fact school started in 15 minutes.

(-:-)

The crowds of chatting students thinned as they drifted toward their respective classrooms the very few lingering to talk and avoid the inevitable beginning of the new semester. Only one student stood immobile letting the tides of students wash around her as if she was a rock the river parted for. Leaning against the wall, she waited.

"She's alive!" Stella exclaimed from her perch against the wall when Sakura finally came into view.

Sakura frowned at her with a cross expression on her face. Stella smiled back perfectly perky as she walked to take her spot by Sakura's side before they started walking in the general direction of their first period classes. Curious brown eyes took in Sakura's ruffled appearance and settled on one particular feature.

"Are those purple highlights in your hair?"

No response.

"Are you trying to impress someone? Eric, Lucas, Mark, any of the guys in our class or maybe," dramatic pause, "Drew?"

That elicited a response. Sakura's eyes flashed in anger before she scowled at Stella, "None of your beeswax. I happen to like being adventurous with my hair."

"But purple? Is this a sign?"

"NO!"

"Alright, alright. Heal girl. Be in denial. You don't fool me."

"Quit the trip trap and shut your mouth. We have to get to class."

"True, true," a wicked smile spread across Stella's face, "and so the torture begins."

Sakura entered the class with one shoe mumbling about perky melodramatic pink haired, spoiled brats. Of course, everyone in the class stared at her in a strange way. A loud screech resounded throughout the classroom as all surrounding desks were scooted as far away as possible from Sakura's desk.

Sakura fumed while staring out the window. The stare caused flowers to wither flowers- innocent flowers!-while the rest of the class recover. The gossip mongerers remarked Sakura was loopy. It must be a boy. There were no pink haired students on campus. Three hallways away from Sakura's first period, Stella had the biggest smile plastered on her face throughout first period. She loved annoying her friends.

The Fantastic Three

Lunch was proceeding as per usual in the lunchroom when the announcement was made.

"Students, this is your principal speaking," Principal Elizabeth "Sissy" Delmas said. Her voice echoed in the empty hallways and courtyards drawing all attention away from conversations, lessons, and lunches.

"This afternoon you will be dismissed early from your last class to attend an assembly in the auditorium. Attendance is mandatory; skipping will not be tolerated. Late arrivals and no shows will be strictly punished. That is all."

A click signaled the official end of the announcement and with it came the buzz of rumors.

The Fantastic Three, the lively trio, the triple threat, a.k.a. Drew, Sakura, Riley, were seated at their usual table by the windows.

"Word in the halls is that Mrs. Herst is retiring." Sakura confined to the lunch table.

"Really?" Drew asked shock evident in his expression. "Seriously? This isn't some typed of prank is it?"

After taking in Sakura's solemn nods of yes and no's Drew rejoiced.

"YES! The old bat is gone! Going, going, gone! Wahoo!" A sudden thought struck him, "I have to call my dad,"

Drew according to his statement whipped out his cell phone, "Y'llo. Dad? Guess what! Mrs. Herst-yes, that Mrs. Herst-is retiring! Can you believe it?"

A 'Wahoo' on the other end of the line was heard by the occupants of the table. Drew discussed the old bat with his Dad for a good five minutes while the rest of the table tuned him out. Well, all except for one.

"Enough," Sakura said irritated and successfully snatched Drew's phone, gave polite good-byes to Mr. Della Robia for five seconds before hanging it up.

"Hey," Drew said offended.

Sakura in response snatched his baseball hat off of his head and whacked his fore- head with it. Drew, suddenly serious, extended a hand.

"Give it," he quietly commanded.

Pouting and with obvious reluctance, Sakura returned the hat.

"Where are Dante and Stella?"

Riley had the answers, "Stella's studying, and Dante is MIA."

"Hmm…interesting," Drew observed.

"Why," Sakura asked.

"I don't know; it just is. I wonder what the assembly is about."

"It's probably about Mrs. Herst's retirement. Anyone want to play soccer?" Sakura asked pulling her purple streaked hair into a ponytail.

Of course the guys didn't need to answer. There was a game to be played.

(-:-)

Energetic yells of enthusiasm drew attention from to the windows where one could look down into the courtyard and see three teens romp about the yard kicking an excessively large paper ball through imaginary goals. From the first floor office the windows revealed a front row view of the game as two adults thoughtfully watched the game.

The Principal, one Sissy Delmas, had swiveled her leather swivel chair to face the side window looking out into the courtyard to observe the faux soccer game. The brown-haired boy was acting as the goalie while the blonde teen guy and purple streaked black haired teen girl battled for possession of the paper wad.

The brown haired guy ran from the goal to effectively steal the paper wad, and began dribbling it down the courtyard. The two teens, momentarily frozen in shock, snapped out of their trance to chase him down only to be interrupted by the bell. The entertainment gone, Principal Delmas turned back to her guest.

"Those three are inseparable," Sissy seemed thoughtful as though remembering something, "True, there was a snit between Miss Stern and Master Della Robia, but they have apparently made up. Those three cause me to reminiscence on the past, especially thanks to their newest addition to the fold."

She paused to pass a knowing look at her guest, "It all reminds me very much so of a different group of teenagers surviving school in their own special group from our school days, but that is not important. This assembly shall prove to be interesting. Can you find the room yourself?"

The adult male in his mid forties sitting across from Principal Delmas nodded. His overall appearance was scholarly and well kept with black eyes speaking of great intelligence.

"I can find my own way, thank you,"

"No, thank you for coming on such sudden notice and for filling in until Mrs. Herst's replacement can be hired," Sissy sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Off the topic of business, I will admit I was surprised you accepted. Once again you have my gratitude and my apologies for my past behavior towards you. I was quite an idiot when I was twelve."

The teacher grinned resulting in crinkled eyes, and his goatee to rise up his face.

"We all were," he replied smoothly.

Sissy chuckled dryly, "Not you,"

The blonde man turned and gave a small bow before exiting the room.


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54:**

Dante frowned closing the lid to his laptop. That reminder from his father had not been necessary. The stillness of the library was a foil to the migration of the students to the auditorium right outside of its doors. The seniors lingering on the fringe of the hustle gave warning glances to all beneath-all in grades 9-11-that clearly read: do not sit in the back of the auditorium.

Hyperactive, goofball ninth graders rushed down the hallway, the more seasoned tenth years calmly strolled behind them, and the eleventh grade students were exhibiting their mastery of walking and talking while moving at a snails pace through the halls. The seniors resembled a glacier's movement, nonexistent, except for over long periods of time.

"There he is!" a loud voice echoed through the library, "Get 'em!"

Dante turned his head to see the triple threat (as Riley, Drew, and Sakura are referred to on Lyoko) charge toward him.

"C'mon, we have a pep rally or something in the auditorium we have to go to!" Sakura piped in a strangely hyper way.

Riley and Drew loomed over the sitting Dante with smug smiles plastered on their faces. Dante gave a resigned sigh and stood up. Resistance was futile.

"I got the laptop!" Sakura said moving to the other side of the table, and carefully checking the power reading-off- and stowing the laptop in its carrying case.

Riley and Drew still loomed over him still smirking.

"I'll come quietly," Dante said. The last time he had refused to come to a pep rally (last year during his first year at Kaddic High Academy) Riley and Drew had picked him up-to his silent mortification and shame-and dragged him to the pep rally which consisted of an annoying hour of hyper activity, noise, and bouncing belles that call themselves cheerleaders.

Dante's black eyes flickered from face to face in the trio and in the room beyond them before finally resting on an unusual object, black wire glasses.

"You're wearing glasses," Dante said to Riley leaving the unasked question hanging in the air, or really two questions.

"I was reading before being dragged off without my glasses case on hand, and she's saving us seats in the auditorium."

Dante shot Riley a sharp looked, "It never crossed my mind to ask where Stella was."

Riley grinned, his glasses giving him an older mature look, but you were looking for her whose name I did not specify."

Dante's face hardened, "We don't have time for fanciful thoughts. Let's move; the meeting is starting without us."

A confused Sakura shot Drew a slightly baffled and confused look. Drew shrugged. He didn't know what chip Dante suddenly had on his shoulder was either. Riley was watching Dante in a calculating gaze before trailing behind the stiff Goth dressed teen.

In the auditorium the air space was filled with paper airplanes, the combined conversations of hundreds of students, and spit wads. Stella waved her arms above her head to attract the quartet's attention. Once everyone was seated comfortably in the five chairs light conversation sprung up.

Dante's dark cloud seemed to ease up around the mysterious perky faux brunette/Stern. Under further questioning from the tag team duo of Sakura and Drew, it was revealed Stella had come across a bundle of smuggled in contrabands, candy. Namely, orange slices, licorice, peppermints, and a feast candy.

The students loud hoopla came to a lull as the principal came on stage commanding the silence with a quick look spanning across the students present. Clearing her throat she started a longwinded speech concerning Mrs. Herst, her career, and how every student was left with a lasting impression after attending her class (a hard elbow stilled Drew's snickers as he secretly recorded the assembly).

There was massive applause at the end of the speech. A standing ovation even. Whether the applause was from the relief that the speech was over, Mrs. Herst was leaving or simply out of politeness, Mrs. Herst was bowed out of the auditorium with applause.

Principal Delmas cleared her throat, "Until the school can hire a teacher to replace Mrs. Herst a substitute will be taking over Mrs. Herst's classes. Students you are dismissed."

(':')

It was in the deep hours of the night when Dante admitted to himself he couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts buzzed around in his head like an angry hornets nest stirred to life by an ignorant enemy. Many things contributed to this unwilling insomnia. Lyoko and school summed up the list into two vague titles.

Dante shifted his weight before leaving his bed and crossed his dorm room to reach his desk. His eye lingered on his closed wardrobe. He had stashed his laptop in there hoping to find the old adage out of sight, out of mind true. Unfortunately, the laptop hovered on the fringe of every conscious action he made with a haunting phrase dancing through his thoughts.

She doesn't remember you. She has forgotten you.

Dante pushed the thought violently through the back of his mind and into a locked drawer of thought. His father's poison did not need to be entertained in his mind even if it was the truth.

Sitting in the purple swivel chair—a gift from the triple threat—he pulled out a pen and a blank piece of paper. With a brief glance at the lines, Dante turned the paper horizontally so that his writing would be perpendicular to the lines, and then Dante began to write.

(':')

The door to the Chemistry room loomed ominously about Sakura. She stepped behind Drew as if to use him as a barrier between herself and the door.

"You go in," she said and slightly started to push him forward.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to go in first. I'm scared."

"That's stupid. Please don't hit me."

Sakura was suddenly towering over him, as much as possible for a girl who is 5'6" to tower over a guy hitting between 5'10" and 6'.

"It's not stupid! I'm nervous! I ask you to be a gentleman and go first because once I see it is safe I'll go in. My security is not stupid!"

Sakura crossed her arms and sulked/seethed ignoring Drew. She didn't hit him though. Drew seemed slightly shocked at that realization.

"You want me to be a gentleman?" he asked. Sakura gave him a sullen nod, still mostly ignoring him. A look of wicked humor settled on Drew's face.

"Then by all means," Drew opened the door with a dramatically gallant bow, "Ladies first."

Sakura amused still bowed form with an icy stare.

"I hate you," she said simply before going inside.

Drew chuckled and followed her in. The majority of the class was already there talking amongst themselves while pointing at the chalkboard. Sakura stopped in her tracks after her brain digested the name on the chalkboard. Drew bumped into her statuesque form.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked.

Sakura pointed mutely at the words on the board. Drew examined the board, read the date, homework, the notes from Mrs. Herst telling them to be good for the sub, and the substitute teacher's name.

"So?" he asked.

"What?" he said to Sakura's look of disbelief.

"You don't see it? Are you blind?"

When he continued the baffled expression Sakura let out an exasperated sigh.

"You don't remember?" she hissed in a low voice at Drew.

"Remember what?"

The substitute teacher's entrance spared Drew whatever backlash Sakura had planned for him.

"Please be seated." The sub commanded, and the students complied glancing at the teacher curiously. Sakura, still scowling at Drew's blondness, glanced with suppressed interest at their sub. Of all the people in the world who could have been their sub, this one surprised her more then if the govenator himself had come to teach.

The sub turned around and began his introduction.

"Hello class. I am Professor Belpois, and I'll be your substitute teacher for the next few weeks."


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55:**

"So how did you sleep in Geometry?" Stella asked Dante. Lunchtime, the high school recess had come again for Kaddic High Academy.

"You know I didn't sleep," Dante replied calmly eating his radioactive chicken breast.

"Didn't sleep? How strange. I slept beautifully." Stella replied.

"You didn't sleep either."

"Of course I did,"

"No you didn't," Dante calmly countered dicing the chicken now, "You were only pretending."

Stella paused before replying, "Alright, I didn't sleep, but I can dream can't I?"

"Not if you don't sleep."

"You know what I mean. What's got you acting like prick today?" Sakura asked one dyed brown eyebrow arched (she hated dying her eyebrows. It was so troublesome. Now her eyelashes, she had almost permanently stained them from all the mascara she applied daily to hide her pink).

Dante spoke his response in an emotionless voice, "The lack of sleep."

"Hah-hah,"

"Alright lovebirds, cut it out," Drew chastised the two. Stella rolled her eyes and prodded her neon orange chicken. She regretted she hadn't ordered pizza.

"I did sleep beautifully last night at least. No dreams, prophecies, premonitions, memories or nightmares. It was simply wonderful." Stella smiled happily.

Indeed, all day a radiation of happiness had emitted from her after one night of peaceful sleeping. Stella radiated well-being and a huge smile.

Dante looked quite the opposite. His manner was collected; his speech a bit dry, and last nights lack of sleep shadowed his face. He still gave off a small smile at Stella's chipper-ness.

Soon Riley, the soccer King, came and went with a soccer ball in one hand and an apple in the other. Sakura and Drew appeared together with Sakura walking with a purpose toward Stella. Drew more at ease and relaxed, idled along behind her with an amused/interested look on his face balancing two trays of food in two hands. Sakura sat down with an immediate warning not to bug her.

"I am annoyed. Slightly amused, but still annoyed."

Drew smiled with the same look that a cat with cream on its whiskers would possess, and placed a tray of food in front of Sakura.

"Thank you," she ground out before ignoring him.

Riley reappeared apple-less but with the ever faithful soccer ball by his side; promptly observing the table then asked the question on everyone's lips.

"What's wrong?"

Stella answered, with glee, "Dante's a prick; Drew's a gentleman, and Sakura's annoyed. What else is new?"

"One Professor Belpois replacing Mrs. Hertz until a replacement can be hired,"

Stella snorted on her orange juice (strange lunch drink) causing her to choke on it, and have OJ come out her nose impeding her breathing. A good back pounding and a napkin helped clear the airways until rasping breathing occurred.

"Wow," Sakura remarked mopping up the misguided OJ.

Drew applauded Stella, "You have a natural talent for nearly killing yourself. I'm impressed."

"Thanks," Stella rasped out.

Dante raised an eyebrow, "You didn't know your father was coming?"

Stella shook her head no, "I knew he was coming, but my phone rang."

Indeed the phone was buzzing when brought out onto the table. A remark no wonder the table was vibrating elicited an eye roll from Riley.

"Hello?" Stella asked. She listened to the other end of the phone before hanging up.

"That was weird," she said.

"What was weird?" Riley asked calmly lowering his fork after taking a bite of the radioactive chicken.

Stella shook her head a puzzled expression creeping onto her face, "A recording came on, and said two words before hanging up?"

"What were the words?" Dante asked.

"Fallen stars. Weird, huh?"

Dante didn't answer. He continued to listlessly pick at his chicken his mind worlds away. Stella stared down at her untouched chicken and crinkled her nose at it. A weird vertigo descended on her as the chicken seemed to triple in size.

"You know what. I'm not hungry anymore," Stella scooted out her chair with a wave of nausea following her movements, "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the library,"

It was a dark and stormy night. The hounds of hell were running loosed across the sky causing the terrible crash of the thunder and the brilliant illuminating sky fire of the lightning. The earth trembled under the duress of the heavens wondering what caused this night of terror to occur.

Sakura huddled petrified under her blankets with a wide eyed look of terror on her face. She hated storms like these. She was scared of the lightning, the sudden illumination giving her a brief snapshot of the once dark room followed swiftly by the pounding thunder.

There was absolutely no way she would be able to sleep. Like a small child she desperately clutched Dwacky her soft white stuffed bunny for comfort. Inching her hand out of the covers she fumbled around trying to find her phone, her lifeline to human support. When the cool plastic surface met her hand, Sakura hurriedly reeled in her hand and with shaky fingers dialed a very familiar phone number.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

"H'llo?" came a muffled sleep filled voice.

A loud thunderclap sounded above her causing Sakura's ear drums to ring. Tightening her choke hold on Dwacky Sakura sent out her desperate plea.

"R-Riley…I-I'm s-scared." She whimpered as tears welled in her eyes.

OOO

All across the campus the storms disturbed the students, and even the teacher's sleep. Students met down in the common room, huddling together for security from the nightmare inspiring storm. The closeness and human presence worked wonders from the students to the bleary eyed teachers sent down to chaperon the unofficial co-ed meeting.

The less sound sleepers mingled together murmuring about different topics as the rain poured down incessantly from the skies. The latest history project, sports teams, how they would need an ark if the torrent continued all were topics of interest.

Sakura, huddled beneath her comforter, sat on a couch in the common room leaning against her uncomfortable looking brother finally sleeping peacefully. Drew smiled in amusement at Riley's uncomfortable-ness from the invasion of his bubble, and Drew played with Sakura's bunny slippers absentmindedly before slipping off into dreamland.

Given an hour puppy piles of slumbering students dotted across the common ground area as the storm rage on outside. Nightmares and dark, restless dreams plagued their minds as a dark fog hovered above the students. The only students unaffected were the deep sleepers who had slept through the storm so far in their dorms completely oblivious to the storm's presence. One of these students included Stella who had been experiencing lately pleasant dreams, but the one exception to this exception was Dante.

Dante was subject to the community of nightmares though deep he slept and in his dorm. His dreams were filled with stars dotting the skies, and the downward plummet of said stars to the earth full of symbolism only his mind could interpret. The fog of dark and depressing dreams that haunted the majority of the student body was the darkest and thickest in his room.

Dante wasn't in Geometry the following day.


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56:**

Dante wasn't in Geometry the following day, nor was he in attendance for lunch or P.E. Upon further inspection his dorm room was empty, and he wasn't answering his phone. Riley had ordered Sakura not to tell Stella about Dante's absence.

Riley was going over Dante's room with a fine toothed comb looking for any indication of his whereabouts. A stack of completed homework from the precious day was arranged neatly on Dante's desk. The bed was a mess of tangled sheets and blankets speaking of a restless sleep and a lax in the morning routine.

The waste basket upon further inspection was filled with two crumpled wads of paper. The sheets of paper proved to have poems written on them. One poem was a peculiar piece, written against the flow of the notebook paper lines. The other rang warning bells drawing Riley's attention to the title.

_Fallen Stars_

Riley's cell phone rang the familiar Duel of the Fates ring tone. Quickly checking the caller I.D. Riley saw it was Drew calling him.

"I found him, and you'll never guess where."

In the nurses office

"You're sick?" Stella asked sitting on a chair pulled up close to the bed Dante was resting on.

Eyes closed, hands folded across his chest, Dante responded, "exhaustion."

"I see," Stella said perching her face on her laced fingers, "and this is due to your lack of sleep?"

"Yes,"

"Ah,"

The nurse looked in and smiled at the thought. The scene was one out of a psychiatrist's office with Stella being the psychiatrist and Dante the patient. The nursed retreated back into her office satisfied with the rest and relative quiet her latest charge was receiving.

Drew leaned against the wall facing the door smiled also at the sight of Stella trying to begin to wonder how to psycho analyze Dante, and Dante knowing what she was trying to do and being to tired to care.

_All good things must come to an end._ Drew thought in honor of the retired Mrs. Hertz and pushed off the wall to stand beside the bed next to where Stella sat.

"C'mon Stel. Let the tired old geezer rest in peace. Some of us still have homework to do,"

Wrinkling her face at the thought of her homework, Stella nodded and headed toward the door with Drew on her heels.

Turning back to wave, Drew called, "See you at dinner old man."

Stella reached the door just as it opened to reveal one Professor Belpois.

With a quick glance upward Stella continued with her previous actions of leaving unaffected.

"Oh, excuse me," Stella said before slipping out past Professor Belpois.

Drew lingered a moment before following her. So that was Stella's _real_ father. He was tall, blond, had a goatee, and looked like a scholar not the great inventor and designer of technology light years beyond the current technology of the day. Drew could feel his Substitute's gaze glance at the two as the professor held open the door for their exit.

Only when Stella and Drew were halfway down the hall and the door to the infirmary had closed was when Stella chose to speak.

"It's time to go to Lyoko,"

Out of all the things Stella could have said, Drew had not been expecting that particular statement.

"Why?"

Stella rolled her eyes at Drew emphasizing her annoyance about the next particular statement she was about to say.

"You guys don't have to protect me. I know Dante was missing. I mean, come on, he's in half of my classes. I also know his body shut down due to exhaustion. He hasn't been taking care of himself which makes me wonder why."

"Why do you have to go to Lyoko then, and why do I have to go with you?"

Stella stopped and gave Drew her best pleading look. It wasn't the puppy dog look, but the I'm-concerned-about-my-friend-please-help-me-figure-what-is-wrong look. Drew mentally chose his battle and questions to ask next very carefully. Casually he broached the subject again.

"Why Lyoko?"

"You saw the dirt in his hair. Dante was outside when he blanked out. Why would he miss school to be in the woods? The only answer I can come up with is Lyoko, and I believe on Lyoko we will find the answer."

"You do realize you are dancing on unstable ground with that conclusion."

Stella sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"These contacts are driving me insane," she muttered, "I'm worried. Dante hasn't been the same since he lost his Code Lyoko code. I'm afraid his XANA code is affecting him outside of Lyoko, and I think, note the verb, Dante has his own private space in Sector 5. I don't know where specifically, but I know where to go to find out."

Drew was musing over her proposal. Stella held her breath biting her lip as she waited. Finally, when she couldn't stand the silence any longer, Stella tried her last entreaty.

"Please Drew. I need some type of chaperone with me, so that Riley and Sakura don't go insane when they find out I was on an unauthorized trip to Lyoko."

"Why don't you get your dad to help you?" Drew asked practically.

Stella turned pale beneath her golden tan.

"That isn't a good topic to bring up. Do you really think my parents would seriously send me to this school if they knew XANA was awake and well?"

"Wouldn't they have had some notion that people were using the supercomputer after your little time travel trip to the past?"

Stella twirled her hair nervously, a habit of hers.

"I don't know what exactly my parents know regarding Lyoko, but I find it hard to believe they would let me fight XANA with all this overprotective shenanigans they have pulled in the past."

Drew was silent again, and Stella could only wait him out while he weighed and determined the pros and consequences that their actions could bring.

"How are we getting back to earth?" he asked.

With that one question, Stella breathed easier and a relieved look painted its way across her features along with the beginning of the famous Mona Lisa smile. Drew had decided to accompany her on her scheme, and she couldn't be happier. With her reputation of what went wrong when she was alone on Lyoko, it was a good thing he was accompanying her.

"I have the ability to use the code: Code Earth on Lyoko. I can go back and bring you home, send you home via a tower, or by shooting you."

"Uh-huh, don't make me regret this."

Stella beamed at Drew, and started running down the hall toward the exit. Drew took off after her. They would be playing tag a lot on Lyoko.

(-:-)

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. The nurse had wisely locked herself into her office busying herself on the phone. Professor Jeremy Belpois and Dante tolerated the silent hostile vacuum of sound which blanketed the room as they each waited for the other to speak.

"How are you feeling?" Professor Belpois asked breaking the silence, but not the ice, in an attempt to be amiable.

"Better," Dante replied a look of wariness hiding deep within his eyes. When all else fails go with monosyllabic answers. Neither of the two wanted to broach the topic they were both hypersensitive to.

True, Dante had collapsed due to exhaustion, and Professor Belpois had been the one to find him and bring him to the nurse, leading to Drew finally tracking down Dante's location. No, it was where exactly Professor Belpois had found him. In the sewer system halfway to the factory.

Dante had no intention of explaining himself to a teacher even if the teacher had been deeply involved in Lyoko and fighting XANA at one point in his life. Dante didn't want to answer whatever question's Hallie's father had. He didn't want to let Professor Belpois into the factory because deep down he was afraid and angry at what Professor Belpois could take away from him.


	57. Chapter 57

**The really big, long ****Chapter 57**** for all you saying this story is moving slowly. :P**

**Sticky Note #1: Well, I am happy to say I am having fun. Back to the Storm (which is also a really cool piece of indoor marching percussion music) **

Overhead the lightning flashed, and the thunder exploded in its intensity. The rain was pouring down. The lights in the school building flickered and switched off immersing the school in darkness. The sudden loss of power produced screams from the seriously scared and skittish to the immature and sighs from the mature.

Sakura called Drew only to have no one answer. It would figure that the moment she made to save her history project that the power would go out. Computers hated Sakura. She would be trying to access the internet or save a file and the computer would throw a hissy fit popping up error messages and thoroughly retarding her progress. Whenever Riley, Drew, or Stella did the exact same thing Sakura had been doing it would work like magic, thus leaving Sakura with the conclusion all non-supercomputers hated her.

Sakura shivered at the cold of the room thankful the computer lab was far away from any windows. She didn't need lightning to add to her current school and computer troubles.

In Sector 5

Two wire frames shimmered into view above the revolving XANA sign. A blue elf and a blond cat dropped to the ground. The sense of vertigo stilled as the room stopped and the doors to the interior of Sector 5 opened. The two teens took off knowing they needed every nanosecond available before their presence was detected if it had not been already.

Hallie slowly did a 360 taking in the room. The wide open space was dipped in various blue hues. The ceiling was as far away as the sky with the walls as distant as the horizon.

"In all my explorations I have never seen this room before," Hallie said taking in the room. The walls shimmered and a light mist started to descend from the ceiling to the ground.

The mist triggered an internal alarm in Hallie which puzzled her. It was just mist. What was there to be frightened of? But then again, mist on Lyoko only appeared in the Mountain region which was sadly departed from Lyoko thanks to the also departed Lyokoware.

Knowledge appeared in her brain, and Hallie grabbed Drew's arm and started tugging at Drew trying to get him to move.

"This whole room is one big pitfall! There is only one safe spot in this room and I'm guessing it's that floor of the hallway on the other side of the room."

"If this room is a pitfall, why aren't we falling?"

"The mist is the trigger of the pitfall. Once it touches the ground gravity will take control after the floor drops out from under us."

"So, run?" Drew said starting to sprint.

"Run!" Hallie yelled taking off toward the far side of the room.

The mist spiraled slowly down from the ceiling to the floor. The floor, as Gollum says, is tricksy and started to act up as is the norm of all special welcome rooms in Sector 5. Walls shot up out of the ground nearly separating the two as a maze towered above them. With the rising walls came crawlers and the snakelike skillets appearing on the tops of the rising walls. Laser fire rained down on the Drew and Hallie as they ran into the maze.

"Stay together. Don't separate!" barked Drew, aiming a laser arrow at a crawler. Heeding Drew's command Hallie shadowed his every move even aiding in the fight. A pink sphere flew at another a crawler engulfing it.

The crawler in fury at its captive state tried to blast its way out of its sphere. The crawler was devirtualized by its own ricocheting laser bouncing wildly of the interior of its prison. Drew glanced back at the pink haired girl behind him.

"Nice," He complimented.

Hallie nodded, eyes darting around before widening at a spot beyond Drew. Rapidly moving Hallie pulled Drew out of the way of a skillet's flying needles. The needles embedded themselves into a blue maze wall behind the two.

"That was close," Drew said before spinning around to attack a crawler which had crawled down the maze wall to enter the maze behind himself and Hallie. Satisfied with one devirtualization Drew looked up to find a small army of skillets and crawlers behind them.

Two of the foremost skillets hissed flaring their hoods preparing to fire. Two crawlers opened their mouths as their lasers charged.

"We can't fight them all Drew," Hallie said throwing pink spheres at the first line of attackers slowly moving backwards into the maze. Drew hesitated in his firing of laser arrows when more refused to come.

"I'm out, I think. That or it's jammed. Run?"

"Run," Hallie concurred before disappearing into the maze with Drew on her tail.

The present mini army dispersed amongst the many paths through the maze searching for their prey after a collective war cry was bellowed.

A crawler had managed to successfully track Hallie and Drew's path pursuing them with dogged determination. The crawler followed every glimpse of them driving them further and deeper into the maze. Following a glimpse of pink the crawler turned into a dead end, an empty dead end.

Swinging its head around the interior of the cubicle the crawler shot at a slightly hazy space in the area. A fizzle was heard and Hallie faded into view clutching her sparking shoulder. The crawler started charging up its second laser blast only to burst into pieces. Before its collapse three prominent claws could be seen skewering the sucker. Drew had a smug smile on his face as he retracted his wolverine claws.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm down 20 life points, but nothing a good healing won't solve."

"Where are we?" Drew asked rather bluntly.

Hallie closed her eyes and concentrated.

"We are on the far end point of the hypotenuse from the exit, and the mist is…a quarter of the way down. We need a faster way out."

Drew grinned right then, and Hallie could have sworn he was taking lessons from Sakura. As the mischievous look spread across his face, Drew scrambled halfway up the maze wall, plucked Hallie off her feet, and threw her on top of the maze wall before climbing the rest of the way up.

"Are you ready to run for your life, mademoiselle?" He asked gesturing to the company perched atop the other maze walls.

"I was born running," Hallie told him simply.

"Tallyho!" Drew yelled as the two ran into what was about to become a zone of crossfire.

(-:-)

Dante was trapped in a nightmare. Professor Belpois had departed after 15 minutes of hostile silence had elapsed, right after the storm started to brew. His leaving was soon followed with the power going out. Dante did not like that man.

Dante hadn't been pleased with the first impression he had received and left. One thing was for sure, if negotiations had to occur between himself and Hal's dad anytime in the near future the meetings wouldn't be a happy, happy, joy, joy experience.

Such thoughts and contemplations of the same ilk haunted Dante as he drifted off into sleep. Other thoughts that helped the falling asleep process were, but not limited to the following:

Why do birds disappear and then reappear in random trees?

What if 2 plus 2 was 42 instead of 4?

Is disturbing the peace truly fun as some crazy people claim?

And is disturbing the peace only fun when it is done Terry's way?

Why is the sky blue and not yellow and green?

Such thoughts horrified Dante's mind at their sheer drivel-ness that his mind shut down automatically to spare his mind from the asinine idiotic-ness implanted in his head somehow.

Now in his deep REM sleep, Dante was plagued by the same nightmare that inspired his poem. His poem had somehow fallen into his father's hands to be passed tantalizing piece by piece to Hallie starting with the title, Fallen Stars, but so far all she had was the title.

Immersed in the dream, Dante stood on a sea shore surrounded by his friends: Riley, Sakura, Drew, and Hallie, all of whom where dressed in their Lyoko garb. Dante himself seemed displaced, separated from the four. He saw himself and his conscious, the part of him viewing the dream, was hovering above himself watching all that occurred in the view of third person.

The four stood all around him, but they did not see him. He was invisible to them, as if a one way mirror separated him from them with Dante the only one able to see. It was night, and the group was admiring the stars. Slowly, their bodies began to dissimulate only to rearrange themselves in the very heavens they were watching presently before they became stars themselves. Shining brightly, his friends in star form winked down at him bright jewels adorning the night until a shadow passed over them slowly killing their light.

One by one the stars would disappear and then Dante would turn to see fading figures of his friends leaving him one by one disappearing until Dante was left surrounded by darkness. And then he would become the darkness.

In Sector 5

"Alright, don't panic!" Drew reassured Hallie.

"Don't panic!" Hallie shot back at him, "The fog's right above us! How can you say not to panic when we aren't even halfway to our destination?!"

Leaping from maze wall top to maze wall top fleeter and swifter then ninja, Hallie and Drew kept up their game of hopscotch to the ever distant exit as the mist above them condensed and darkened into a fog hovering ominously above the two.

"We're not getting anywhere! It's as if we're trapped in a mirage walking around in circles! The exit is no closer then it has ever been and…"

Brilliance struck Hallie then. It was a eureka moment. The light bulb was lit and shining proudly. The apple hit her head. The wires connected. 2 + 2 equaled 4.

"Of course," she muttered, "I'm an idiot, a blind fool."

Drew experienced whiplash as Hallie reeled him backwards from his forward motion into a standstill motion.

"I know how to get out of here. Trust me," Hallie said green eyes sparkling with her latest discovery. Keeping a firm hold on Drew's arm she jumped back down into the maze.

"We've been stuck in one big mirage, an illusion if you will. In the pursuit of our exit we made no progress because in reality we were jumping around in circles around the real exit of the maze, which is in the very center of the maze. Keeping taking lefts," Hallie explained as the two dashed side by side through the maze blindly running against the clock.

Rounding one corner they turned left to encounter a dead end. Backtracking and moving forward to varied success following the path of least resistance was the strategy. In reality it was more along the lines of following the path of most resistance seeing how as Drew and Hallie made progress towards the center of the maze the more creepy crawlers and sicklets/skillets they encountered.

"One fire fight after another, eh?" Drew called with false cheer across the hallway to Hallie.

Both had their backs flattened on either side of an entrance to another long stretch of the maze. Past them their chosen path was occupied by three crawlers firing at Drew and Hallie. Hallie summoned two energy prisms each crackling with pink sparks and tossed them at two of the crawlers. The prisms engulfed the crawlers and encased the two in their own personal spherical prison of pink energy.

Drew nodded at Hallie before turning on his knee sprinting into the corridor claws drawn with a war cry that would have made Wolverine and Han Solo proud, and he charged the remaining crawler effectively slicing and dicing it. The crawler convulsed and exploded fading into nothing.

Hallie appeared through the entrance and ran up behind Drew.

"We're close," she said before running off down the final stretch.

Indeed the circular circumference had been growing smaller and smaller the closer the two drew to the center of the maze. This observation was a sure sign they were getting closer to their goal, hopefully.

The hall ended in a dead end with one left turn entrance left. With time and the deadline drawing closer to a close, Hallie and Drew rounded the last corner only to find a dead end.

Dismay colored Hallie's features at the abrupt end to the maze while Drew turned thoughtful.

"This doesn't make sense. How can it be a dead end?" Hallie asked.

"It's fine. We'll backtrack," Drew encouraged her.

Hallie glanced at his hopeful/helpful face and gave him a bitter smile.

"There's no time," she replied gesturing towards the fog. Tendrils were licking the top of the maze. Time had almost run out.

Drew shook his head refusing to give up. _Think_, he commanded himself putting his mind to work. A steady monotone hum perpetrated his thoughts scattering them effectively. The vibrations resonated through his ribcage synchronizing with his Lyoko form.

"Do you hear that humming sound?" Drew asked Hallie who was in as deep thought as Drew.

Distractedly coming out of her thoughts Hallie answered, "Yeah, I've been hearing it for a while."

Cocking his head toward the source of the sound, Drew gazed intently at the dead end. The humming seemed to be coming from beyond there.

_We've been stuck in an allusion…a mirage_. Drew snapped his fingers.

"Hallie, I'm about to be brilliant. Walk through that wall,"

Hallie looked at Drew with a patented look of horror inherited from having Sakura as a best friend.

"Drew, the wall is solid. This may be Lyoko, but I'm not a ghost."

"Hallie, trust me. Walk through the wall."

Warily, Hallie approached the wall hands outstretched in front of her to ward off invisible enemies, and she slowly touched the wall. The wall warped, and Hallie moved through it as if through a liquid. Her movements were slowed down to a snail's pace as the wall tugged at her before suddenly sucking her out of sight.

Drew, with a brief glance at the dark fog just above the tips of his blonde hair, rolled through the wall and into the heart of the maze.

Sticky Note #2: Here we are in December and it's 70 degrees outside. There are no white Christmases in Houston, but it's still the beginning of December. Anyhoo, tomorrow is Region Band auditions, what fun. Well I hope you are all satisfied, and I would love to hear what you think of this chapter.

Oh yeah, I would like to issue a huge THANK YOU to all loyal readers who flatter me with reading my story, and the ones who actually review about it. I especially like Andrew's input; I take it into consideration when I write the story and plan for future chapters. It is his fault that you have such a long chapter, and he was my inspiration for the first sticky note at the top of the page. Well, adios mis amigos!


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58:**

Sticky Note 12/7/07: Halo Kitty. Meditate on that, my readers. The website is flawed. It has bugs. I will explain at the bottom of the page. Oh yeah, I disclaim the original Code Lyoko thingymagjiggermabob that is a TV show on cartoon network. I do claim _Fallen Stars_ and all my original characters.

Riley was perched on tip of a bookcase during the power outage, a strange place to be. The library had been the loudest location at the time of the power outage thanks to the freshmen fashion design class researching how fashions changed over time. Lights off equaled busted eardrums. Even having been on top of a bookcase Riley's ears were still ringing from the shrill noise.

The library was gone washed away from Riley's sight. The only solid reminder he had of its existence was the sturdy oak bookcase that he was sitting on. It was peculiar how he had ended up here on top of the bookcase. The librarian, a meek little lady with flaming red hair and a big voice, had requested Riley's help in taking down the holiday decorations. Of course, Riley, being the wise gentlemen he was, helped her, and right after he had handed down the last roll of tinsel the lights went off effectively stranding him; and all the girls in the library had screamed bloody murder.

Now Riley spent the time trapped on his imposed exile on top of the bookcase as a time to think in great detail upon what he had found written on the two pieces of discarded paper in Dante's wastebasket. They were poems, and Dante might actually be starting to act a tiny bit like his namesake.

(o)(o)

"Well, that was fun," Hallie said sitting on the lift in Sector 5. Drew, peering over the side, was waiting for their drop off point. As an approaching platform sped closer toward them overhead, Drew stepped on the edge of the lift. Hallie sighing stood up and approached the edge beside Drew.

"On three. One, two, three!"

The two jumped off the lift and landed onto the platform. Hallie picked herself up, and dusted the invisible dust off of her clothes before walking down the blue hall part of the interior network of hallways in Sector 5. Drew followed Hallie curious to see this private space Hallie has spoken of, and they had gone to some much trouble to reach.

After stepping through the wall, the heart of the maze was a circle with the familiar XANA symbol inscribed on it resembling the circle the Lyoko Warriors would be land on after arriving in Sector 5, only smaller.

Hallie had motioned for Drew to step onto the circle with her. Hesitantly putting a foot down Drew had jerked it back when the icon lit up. After getting in the center of the heart of the maze, the circle had risen like a hydraulic lift up into the fog and then into the ceiling before depositing the two onto the moving lift in Sector 5.

Hallie turned around to face the awe struck Drew.

"If you get lost, it's not my fault," she warned him, before breaking into a sprint. Drew, astonished, dashed off after her keeping abreast with Hallie until she suddenly took an abrupt left 90 degree turn.

Sliding on one foot Drew exclaimed, "Whoa!" before he adjusted to his new route. After two more of these sudden changes Drew ran slightly behind Hallie keeping an alert eye for the signs of a change of direction. Due to these modifications of running patterns Drew was better prepared for the sudden cease in running. Hallie stopped with no provocation or warning. The only thing in front of her was a dead end. Drew watched with an inward raised eyebrow as Hallie took a deep breath and turned around to look at a point past him.

Drew turned also following suit. The hall behind him that they had taken to reach the dead end was gone and replaced with another dead end, only this dead end had a door in it. Glancing over his shoulder back to where the dead end should be Drew saw a long hallway.

_It's like we've entered a mirror reflection of where we just were._

Drew narrowed his eyes at what he saw down the hallway. Three creepers were dragging their way down the hall toward them. _Oh great another obstacle course._ Drew remained outside the door prepared to engage in a marksmanship competition while Hallie entered the room.

In the map room

The holographic map of Lyoko was featured proudly in the center of the map room as Hallie approached it with a certain sense of awe. The map faded away to be replaced by a screen with a blinking cursor mark as it seemingly waited for the input of information.

Hallie reverently placed her hands on the floating keyboard. She always felt privileged to have been able to find this room, and be able to access it. Something deep inside told her this wasn't a right being able to find and enter this room, but a privilege, one that could be taken away.

Hallie typed in a search encompassing all documents, files, and programs accessed and downloaded onto the super computer and into Lyoko in the past week as per the time frame Hallie set. Said requested items appeared crowding one over the other. Shifting from program to program minimizing and closing as needed one particular word document caught Hallie's eye.

It was a plain word document with about 20 lines on it. It was tilted _Fallen Stars._ The title in particular caught Hallie's attention and caught her, hook, line, and sinker:

Stars once shining claimed their might

Trying to outshine the night

In their folly lost their light.

Darkness claims the stars once bright.

-

Fallen stars plucked from the sky

Shine, oh twinkling streaks of light.

Captured, caught now hear the cry

Of fallen stars hid from sight.

(o)(o)

In the dark still Riley contemplated the poem he had read only once but memorized. Photographic memory, oh how his sister detested that seemingly annoying trait of his. All the more reason to tease and publish her diary—excluding Lyoko and Stern/Belpois information—on the internet with. Closing his eyes against the dark, Riley called forth the memory containing the poem before focusing on the third and fourth four line groupings:

Stars are falling; moonlight wanes.

Starlight dims, and darkness reigns.

Light is stolen lost in night.

Darkness comes and steals the light.

-

Falling stars where do you go?

Falling stars what pulls you there?

Falling stars what is this blow?

Fallen star what brings this tear?

And finally the last four lines repeating infinitely through the composer's mind side by side with the dark dreams inspiring the opus.

Fallen stars buried in sand,

Dark's long wait now being paid.

Fallen stars now bound to land.

Darkness reigns as starlight fades.

In his dream Dante could only watch helpless and immobile with clenched fists as he watched his friends flicker out one by one by the darkness of XANA's long hand. He would never, never, never become his father.

Never.

(o)(o)

Slowly the lights in the school flickered back into existence. Riley climbed down the bookcase feet now planted firmly on solid ground.

Sakura bemoaned the casualty found inside her history project.

With the return of the lights Dante woke and the storm abated as he realized with a type of relief he couldn't remember what he dreamed about.

"_We need to talk."_

"_About?"_

"_Our daughter."_

Hallie slowly closed the text box. _That was…dark._

A murmuring audible only to her ears originating from the center of Sector 5 distracted Hallie as she cocked her head toward the soft impression of words.

"Yes, we should watch over him. Are you nuts? That's…brilliant. He won't like it, but it could work. No I'm not insulting our intelligence; I'm just saying I'm not a brilliant programmer." Hallie paused in her speech. "If any one was witnessing this monologue of mine they would be certain I am insane. Talking to voices in my head, you are loosing it Halinor."

Two laser bolts ricocheted into the room distracting Hallie out of her, well, craziness. Drew appeared poking his head briefly through the doorway.

"Uh, Hallie, once you get a chance would it be possible for us to leave?" Drew asked.

Hallie nodded, "We can go now if you'd like,"

"Sounds like a plan because XANA has invented a type of crawler that can clone itself. We have an army on our hands."

Hallie chuckled at the stakes against them. _This could be fun_, she mused a white glow appearing deep inside her eyes. Hallie walked out of the doorway where she surveyed the overcrowded conditions in the hallway.

"I'm feeling…creative right now," was all she said as her eyes locked on one particular crawler right behind Drew. You had to feel sorry for him, the crawler I mean.

Later outside the factory

"The rain stopped," Drew commented taking in the clear robin's egg blue skies overhead. Stella was contemplating some of the deeper puddles pooled on the concrete.

"Hey, Stel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember anything of what you forgot with your whole amnesia thing?"

The brown haired faux Stern girl smiled at Drew as she let the guise of Stella fall momentarily for Hallie to shine through.

"I remember bits and pieces, more knowledge then anything, but there is one thing I have remembered recently with certain clarity."

"What's that?"

Hallie jumped straight into a particularly deep puddle splashing Drew. The recollection of the memory caused Hallie to smile a deep smile before entering her Stella guise again.

"Just comings, goings, and meetings. Come on we're going to miss dinner. It's spaghetti."

Drew shook his head at Stella's sudden change of topic and mood of goodwill. Who knew finding out she could move the ceiling to squish an army of self replicating crawlers would brighten her day?

In the dining hall

"Well don't you two look as if you're cats with cream all over your whiskers," Sakura said upon sighting the two amigos entrance, "What did you do?"

Drew and Stella caught each others glances and looked away.

"Nothing," they said with the perfect air of feigned innocence. Of course no one believed their statement for a second.

"So, did you get lots of rest?" Stella asked Dante. Dante shrugged his shoulders his eyes over her shoulder focused on one adult Belpois.

"Guess what?" Stella chirped happily.

"What?" he asked playing along.

"I remembered something."

"What did you remember?"

"It's a secret."

Dante smiled rolling his eyes at her childishness. Hallie beamed at Dante. Outside the bluebirds could be heard singing their merry tune happy the storm was past.

_I remember when we first met._

Sticky Note at the bottom of the page (12-14-07):

This is for those of you wondering why the website said I had updated when I seemingly hadn't before I posted this chapter. Well, this past Tuesday I discovered while rereading past chapters that chapter 44 was malfunction and didn't display all of the chapter's content, so I tried to fix it.

And Fanfiction started acting weird. I could delete chapters (which I did), but I couldn't add chapters. The problem lasted for about 24 hours and I republished chapter 44 complete this afternoon. I went from 56 chapters (I deleted one), added ch 44, moved ch 44 to ch 44 instead of in ch 57's spot and all was well in Return my Past's layout. All that left was leaving this explanation at the bottom of the chapter for my stories buggy-ness. Anyhoo, please review!


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59:**

"_What about our daughter?"_

"_Our daughter needs to hear, the Talk,"_

"_I'll be on a plane as soon as possible."_

-

A siren's seductive call could not compare to what Dante now heard in his blood. Lying awake staring at the ceiling, he could feel an utter wrongness in his bones being generated from Lyoko. Something he was supposed to see. The call had been interwoven into his dreams and sleepless nights, and he knew where it stemmed from. XANA.

An image hovered on his mental vision of a tower; of course, it was the one in Sector 5. That tower had been particularly active lately. There was something wrong about this tower; something Dante couldn't place. It wasn't a tower activated by XANA, but he could feel wrongness similar to XANA's emitting from it. And it baffled him.

Finally admitting to himself that he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, Dante started to think and map out courses of action. This image hovering in his mind had been haunting him for weeks, and lately, it was more real then it had ever been. Dante wanted to end it. He must end this image. He wouldn't be free to be human or as human as possible with it hovering ominously in his mind like a heavy weight on his chest, a dark cloud sagging against him.

Also his pride and ego was at stake because of this unknown enigma. Lately Hallie and Sakura had kindly thought up a nickname for him, Emo Prince. That crossed a line itself. He could only endure so many calls of emo prince and watching the two girls fall to pieces laughing uncontrollably with Drew egging them on. The fun at his expense would stop here and now. And…it would be nice to be able to actually sleep again.

An unbidden image of Professor Belpois rose up out of Dante's memory. Dante growled inwardly curling and uncurling his fists. _I may be slightly more irritable due to my lack of sleep lately, and call me my father's son, but I do not care for that man._ Some people will never get along like how oil and water will never mix. But that is the situation where you strive to be at peace to the absolute best of your ability even if it means not saying a word. Dismissing the troubling thoughts, Dante selected his next course of action.

"Riley, I'm going on an expedition inside Lyoko. Something is not right," Dante spoke, to thin air. Riley, on the other end of the mental cell phone call replied, "XANA's activated a tower."

"No, but as I said before something on Lyoko isn't as it should be."

A pause. Then, "I'll see who's up and ready to go."

"Thanks, I'll meet you at the factory."

Dante went over to his wardrobe and pulled out his jacket. Walking out of his dorm room he noted again the absence of his trash in his trashcan. Interesting.

At the factory

"This is it?" Dante queried at the sight of the two Sterns. Riley shrugged nonchalantly.

"Drew wouldn't wake up, you said it wasn't a XANA attack, so there was no reason to drag Stella into an unnecessary expedition to Lyoko, and I did well to convince _this_ bear," here the annoyed looking Sakura sent her brother a glare worthy of plant withering, "to come, so yeah. It's just us."

Dante shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "It doesn't matter to me," _ending this enigma matters._

"Let's go," He said gesturing to the elevator.

Sakura shrugged and followed behind with Riley being the last to enter the elevator. The doors slid open with a silent whoosh attesting to the fine oil job put on the track. Riley frowned at this observation. He didn't like it for some reason, call it gut instinct. The instinct of uneasiness which resulted in Riley shifting from foot to foot in the scanner as he waited for virtualization. The feeling lingered even as the scanner doors slid shut. The solution nibbled at the back of his brain like a fish testing the bait. The hum briefly started a new train of thoughts for Riley.

It was a wonder how Dante interacted with machines, and the machines compliance. The fact they were going onto Lyoko without a backup at the computer to give them life point checks and the whole shebang reminded him of a computer phone call. The phone rings, you pick up the phone, but no one is on the other end. It was silent, much like the elevator. Ah, the elevator. Previously the doors would open with a slight groan of protest from the decades of rust build up slowing down the elevator's opening and closing. Now it was smooth, silent, and swift. The elevator had been oiled.

Now who exactly had done that? Riley knew, of course, that he hadn't oiled the elevator tracks. Sakura was a degree of tomboy, but she was one to the extent of being mechanic enough to oil ball bearing tracks. Dante had been preoccupied lately. Stella would pass for the same reason as Sakura, and Drew, just, no. So who exactly had been to the factory to care oil the elevator tracks?

(o)(o)

Riley, Sakura and Dante dropped onto the revolving center of Sector 5's entrance hall. Riley walked up next to Dante to speak to him.

"Someone has been inside the factory. The elevator was oiled."

Dante nodded slowly, "I noticed," he shrugged his shoulders in careful indifference, "It was probably your substitute, the Professor. I met him coming from the general direction of the factory before my…rest."

"Guys, the door is opening," Sakura called ahead of them. The wall flickered open one section at a time, and Sakura plunged in.

"Sakura, get back here," Riley called to his sister as she disappeared around the bend. No response.

"Sakura, I'm not joking. Get back here." Riley barked after her.

His voice echoed, bouncing off the halls catching up with Sakura as she entered the maze room. Upon entering the room Sakura had first seen the fog as a cloud shrouding and rolling across the room playing tricks with her mind. Distant shapes resembling walls were Sakura's first markers. They hadn't seemed so far away, so she had ventured off into the fog toward them. It was all going well until Sakura's wall disappeared.

_Ugh, stupid room. They're no walls here. I could have sworn I saw a few walls when I entered. Great, now I have to find my way back and get lectured by stupid big brother…that is, which was is back? Oh, great…_

"Sakura?" called Riley's voice from, somewhere. Drifting across room, he sounded annoyed.

_I'll just follow the sound of his voice,_ Sakura thought setting off toward where the source of the voice came from. During her setting off determinedly into the fog, Sakura heard a crunch.

She froze. It had sounded as if she had just stepped on something. Hesitantly lifting up her booted foot, Sakura peered anxiously down at the ground. There was a crack in the floor.

_Oh dear…_

Sakura sunk down an inch as another crunch was heard. A spider web of cracks splintered out under Sakura's other foot. Heart sinking fast, Sakura's heart suddenly leaped into her throat as the floor moved beneath her. One second Sakura was standing on a solid—albeit cracking—floor, the next the floor had dropped out from under her, and gravity had its jealous grip on her.

Sakura did as instinct called. She screamed.

(o)(o)

No sooner Riley drawn his light saber after hearing his sister's cry of terror the floor had left him. The sensation he felt accompanied with the plummeting fall to an unseen ground—if there was any—was akin to the bottomless pit sensation encountered when on a roller coaster starting your rapid descend down that first mountainous hill.

Mimicking sky divers, Riley outstretched his body in an x figure to control his fall as he searched for a bottom, handhold, or ledge to stop his fall. He didn't have to search long. The walls began to angle inwards until Riley was slightly bouncing off them then settling down and hovering slightly above on the surface before sliding down on a horizontal surface. He slid down and into a place devoid of light. He had been in a lot of places like that recently.

(o)(o)

Dante himself had been surprised when the floor had begun its rapid descent downwards. Out of all the rooms in Sector 5, he failed to see how he had forgotten about the only one where the floor acted like an elevator on steroids. Well, he hadn't really forgotten about it. Something inside his mind had told him to magnetically attach his shoes to the ground while the fog obscured all sights of the prodigal sister from Riley's anxious sight.

When the floor had descended (faster then the lift going around Sector 5), Dante had been in on the ride. He had seen the freefall of Riley begin before his ride pulled him out of sight, and the walls began to move. Now the lift of sorts had stopped, and Dante was in a place he would rather not be. His nightmare.

The world was 2-D around him lacking the third dimension found on Lyoko. His senses, all five, were present, unfortunately. They were functioning enough to show Dante the sight of a war zone before his eyes. Bombed out buildings, rusted cars, and miscellaneous clumps of coated debris filled the town's streets. The streets were cracked and filled with potholes. The whole town was lifeless and deserted an empty skeleton.

**Isn't it magnificent?**

Dante turned at the voice he recognized so easily.

**The world, ours, as it should be and will.**

A featureless wire frame appeared before Dante sporting only a mouth and eyes like a man's. Those were the only similarities found to the human race, the inferiors, so he referred to them. The smile revealed crooked iron teeth curled back into a twisted grin as XANA appeared before his son. Dante's eyes turned blood red.

(o)(o)

Lightning flashed around Sakura. She was frozen as the white sky fire pierced the stunning darkness around her, leaving her frozen in her fear. She had fallen not a great distance but into a dark place. She didn't know how long she had been there. Numerous shouting of her brother's and Dante's names provided neither help nor relief from the dark and the loss of companionship she felt. Honestly, she was fine until the first lighting bolt pierced the inky blackness. Her eyes had widened, and as the illumination faded into darkness again Sakura had breathed a sigh of relief until the thunder engulfed her in its mighty roar. Her insides quivered, and her body vibrated. Another flash of lightning came leaving Sakura soon paralyzed and mute trapped experiencing her worst fear coming to life around her on Lyoko, again and again and again.

(o)(o)

Fists clenched Dante was deaf to XANA's poison as it flowed around him. This was one advantage of mastering the grand technique of in one ear and out the other, but oh how he despised being empty headed. The mental message rolling through his mind was something Dante did not, could not focus on. He was losing his grip enough by himself; he didn't need his father ripping what's left out from under him.

**Come back…**

"No," Dante refused.

**There's nothing for you on earth among the inferiors, only pain. In the end you will be betrayed because of your birthright. And you will loose the one you seek to protect. The one who doesn't remember you.** A dark chuckle emitted from the wire frame.

**Emotions are fickle things, unstable and uncertain. They will love you one day and hate you the next, but let me remind you of something.**

"I don't have to listen to this,"

**You have no choice.**

"I'm leaving," Dante said turning on his heel and started stalking off toward a distant shore appearing beyond the ghost town.

**You're forgettable. You have been forgotten once, and you will be forgotten again. Remember that.**

Dante froze as a strange pain radiated throughout his being. He wasn't feeling any physical pain from his nervous system. This was different, an emotional pain, that filled him suddenly and violently. It was true, as much as he hated to admit it. He had been forgotten and by one of the most important people in his life.

**When you come to your senses, I will be here. I will still be here when they betray you.**

The message lingered as Dante appeared on the beach finally away. The wire frame had disappeared slowly with the last thing to go being the twisted iron smile.

Disoriented Dante found himself on the beach, the one of his nightmares. It was too much like his nightmare. There across the dunes were the representations of his friends, on the beach and in the sky. Panting, Dante walked up to talk, touch, and contact them only to stop as his hand darkened into a dark thing eating away at his body. It started with his fingers first, then it spread to his hands, wrists, arms, until his whole self was a being of darkness.

Desperately he reached out to his friends for anchorage after this new addition to his dream. He reached out into their constellations in the sky. At his touch they slowly faded out and away, snuffed out, consumed by his darkness.

A horrible sense of déjà vu dawned on Dante. It was horrifyingly familiar. One by one at his touch they disappeared all by his cursed, dark touch. It was just like his dream. The darkness came and snuffed out his friends light, only he was the darkness. Riley…Sakura…Drew, and the only one left was Hallie.

The panic, not a new emotion to Dante having witnessed it in many of his friends—Drew at the dark look Sakura gave him, Sakura when Hallie uncovered her latest crush, Hallie when she realized her pink roots were growing out—but he had never experienced panic before himself, until now.

_No! Not you!_ Dante mentally cried as his dark self was pulled strongly and steadily toward Hallie's star form. _Not you!_

Struggle and resist as he might, Dante was attracted to Hallie like iron to a magnet. The force was unstoppable and he could only watch in torment knowing he was going to make her too disappear. That she was going to die, and it would be his fault.

"Hal, get away from me! Get away!"

"Dante?" the star asked, the curiosity apparent as he was now feet away dragged steadily closer and closer know matter how firmly his feet were planted or how far back he strained. The star changed into Lyoko Hallie, only this Hallie retained the luminescence of the star clothed in white emitting a soft aura. She walked toward him now head cocked to the side.

_Get away from me!_

"Dante?" she asked again reaching out toward his darkness, and they connected, light and dark. At their touch Dante was free and in control of his mobility. Reeling backwards, Dante pushed himself away from Hallie with a strange feeling of despair inhabiting him.

_She's gone. I've lost her, again._

"Dante," his ears perked up at the sound of the voice still echoing around the room, "What are you doing here?"

Wait, room. Dante looked over his shoulder behind him. Hallie was still there. The beach and the background were faded, distorted. _Maybe I'm still dreaming._

A slight frown creased Hallie's forehead as she came alongside Dante.

"You do know where you are?" she continued.

_I'm dreaming. I'm certain now._

"You do know this isn't real?"

The surroundings further faded out, and shades of blue could be seen emerging in different places. Dante watched this possibly not a Dream Hallie with utter fascination. She glowed.

"You do know that you're in the Hall of Illusion, right?"

The Hall of Illusion. The Hall of Nightmares. Dante knew the place. An ever shifting room with the ability to hone in on its occupants worst fears, confusing and deceiving all who tried to navigate and failed to exit it in time. Yet, it was deactivated by this strange Hallie.

"What," Dante managed to breathe out glad the blue room had entered its dormant mode, "what are you doing here?"

Riley had said Hallie was asleep, or was that Drew? Off in the distance Dante could see Sakura begin to experimentally blink and move her limbs. Riley was standing up, but Dante wasn't focused on them. He was focused on her.

Surprise crossed her face before a soft laugh escaped her. A small smile coupled with a look of amusement shone down on Dante, "Silly. I live here. You know that."

(o)(o)

Stella rose out of sleep and into wakefulness to go into panic mode when she saw a polymorphic clone above her bed nudging her awake. A human hand covered her mouth and pinched her nose stopping the air flow and her scream.

"Shh," whispered the human voice. The hold on her nose was released, and the hand removed. Stella could breathe again.

"S-Sakura?" Stella started. "What are you…why is…polymorphic clone…"

Sakura sat down on the bed.

"Dante sent him. Something happened on Lyoko in Sector 5. Dante is refusing to leave Sector 5 until he talks to you, and…Dante can activate towers now." Sakura spoke hesitantly fingering the fringe of Stella's bedspread.

"On Lyoko, in Sector 5, we entered a room where our worst nightmares came to life. We need you. Dante needs you."

"What's with the clone?"

"An escort to ensure nothing and no one troubles us,"

Stella shivered and slipped out of bed fumbling around in the dark for her shoes. The clone was a silent sentry standing against the wall watching the two girls' movements. Finally wedging her foot into her boot, Stella stood and motioned to Sakura for them to leave. Out in the hallway, slumped against the wall dozing, was Drew. Stella raised her eyebrows at Sakura.

"What?!" Sakura snapped.

"Nothing, nothing," Stella replied rolling her eyes.

Drew jerked awake after a firm poke from Sakura.

"We're going," she whispered.

Drew yawned and stretched before agreeing.

"It's too early in the morning to be…doing…stuff," he wilted swaying slightly as he stepped forward overcome by sleep. Stella and Sakura shared a look. With a mutual consensus they hooked their arms through Drew's and began to drag him down the hall. The polymorphic clone walked behind them as the three made their way to the factory.

-

"_The plane has touched down. I should be there in 30 to 45 minutes."_

"_Meet me at the regular place,"_

"_I'll be there as soon as possible."_

-

Drew was perched in the supercomputer chair tapping away readying the scanners.

"You may enter your scanner now," his voice, jaunty over the loudspeaker, said to the two young ladies in the scanner room.

Stella in lazy bus pajamas and a yellow tank top stepped into one scanner as a white t-shirt and purple sofie shorts clad Sakura entered the other.

Scanner Sakura

Scanner Hallie

Transfer Sakura

Transfer Hallie

Virtualization.


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60:**

**You are forgettable. You have been forgotten, and you will be forgotten. Remember that.**

**You will return to me. The longer you delay the more pain I will inflict. Whatever obstacles that are keeping you from me, I will remove, permanently.**

Angry red eyes stared at the far wall unblinking. The Hall of Illusion had remained unchanging even after the glowing Hallie had suddenly faded out of sight. Even after Dante had devirtualized Sakura and activated a tower to send a polymorphic clone to fetch Drew, and possibly Hallie, the room had remained unchanged.

Angry eyes, an angry gaze, and anger consumed Dante. Anger towards his father XANA and his threats. _And I'm becoming more like him every day._ That thought just angered Dante even more.

The light in the room around him dimmed and became more ominous even as the room lay dormant. Deep in its core, the Heart of Lyoko grew distressed at the darkness brewing in Sector 5. Out on Lyoko the ground trembled, and from where Hallie was running to the Hall of Illusion with Sakura beside her, she frowned as the Heart's distress tugged heavily on her conscious thoughts.

Riley stood outside the room acting as a silent sentinel when Sakura and Hallie arrived.

"Riley, what's up?" Sakura asked, a.k.a. hand over the status report.

Riley replied accordingly, "Our little bundle of sunshine has been brooding with a thunderstorm raining down on him, and it has been affecting the relative, ah, atmosphere." Riley gestured to the dim lighting in the room almost reaching the requirements as pitch black. Riley quickly focused on the concerned look on Hallie's face.

"He's dangerous Stella; right now he isn't Dante. He's XANA.2."

"No," Hallie replied brushing past Riley, "he's still Dante." And with that she disappeared into the room. Gradually behind her the room started to lighten a little until the piercing darkness was just grey light. Sakura moved to enter the room behind her, but Riley restrained her.

"It's not safe," he warned. Sakura jerked her shoulder out of his grip.

"It's not safe for me, but you're letting her in? Riley he could kill her."

Riley shook his head sighing in defeat, but not letting his sister through. "I know, but right now she will have the safest spot near him. He wanted to see her, after all."

Sakura nodded watching, no matter how much it crossed protocol to refer to her as this, Hallie walk toward the dark and brooding warrior.

"You're right," she said softly as she watched Hallie lightly touch Dante's shoulder and sit down beside him, "He cares for her," Sakura concluded sitting on the ground mimicking Hallie.

Drew silently pulled up a view screen from Sakura's viewpoint and removed his earphone. This was a private conversation between Dante and Hallie.

_Yes, it is blatantly obvious Dante cares for Hallie, but the question is, does she care for him?_

-

The two sat side by side in silence, one deep in thought, both waiting. Occasionally Hallie would glance over at Dante's unforgiving stare boring into the wall. Hallie remembered a previous conversation she had with Drew.

_"Why are you so silent?" she asked, "Isn't it boring not saying anything?"_

_Drew groaned and stretched his arms above his head. Stella had been badgering him in conversation for the past 5 minutes trying to coax him into talking. It was very annoying._

_"When I'm being silent I'm usually thinking."_

_"Oh," Stella replied digesting this new fact about guys._

For the reason of letting Dante sort out his thoughts, and possibly cool down some, Hallie let him think and reframed from speaking. All she would allow herself would be to glance over at him now and again to see if he was out of boiling mood. The glancing at him, holding for a second before glancing away went unnoticed by Dante, so she thought, until Dante deliberately caught and held her gaze. Dark ruby eyes held forest green.

"What?" he asked his tone filled with irritation.

_I think I made the situation worse instead of better._ Hallie shook her head wordlessly.

"If you don't have anything to say, then don't look at me," Dante snapped.

Hallie blinked. "Well, you seem cranky Emo Prince," she said softly, resting her head on her knees.

Dante looked away and stared at the wall on his left away from Hallie. Emo Prince indeed.

"Dantes, what happened?"

"Nothing," statement had a note of finality in it. Of course, Hallie didn't leave it be.

"Nothing doesn't activate towers. Nothing doesn't cause storms to brew out of thin air. Nothing doesn't cause nightmares and unnaturally darkens rooms. Nothing doesn't yell at me."

"I'm not yelling at you."

"You are now!"

"Raising my voice and yelling are two different things."

"According to both of my parents they are both one and the same,"

'_I'm going to help you. We're going to help.' The glowing Hallie had said before disappearing._

"Why do you care?!" Dante yelled turning crimson eyes of Hallie.

"Wha—?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm concerned about you."

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend."

"How can I be your friend? You don't even remember me! Before this school year, if we had passed in the street, you wouldn't have recognized me. I would have been a stranger to you!"

"What does this have to do with anything? Drew is my friend, and I didn't know him before this school year, and I would help him if he needed it. I'm here because you said you wanted to talk to me, but all you seem to want to do is yell at me!"

Dante opened him mouth and suddenly closed it, an irritated expression crossing his face as he bit down his next discussion statement.

"As for why I care," Hallie continued, "It's like I said. I'm concerned about you because you are my friend. Since I am concerned I wish to help which is why I am here enduring your tirade over a trivial subject which I am not entitled to know or be enlightened on."

"Well, if you are only here to appease me, then leave me alone. Get out of my face!"

Whatever control over his rage that had been found broke quickly as it started to build up again. Unnoticed to the quarrelling cough, love birds, cough were the fireworks they were causing in the room. The Hall of Illusion came alive during their argument punctuating each yell with a lightning bolt streaking across the room.

Hallie, flabbergasted with her dander up, shot back her own enraged response. "I will not leave you alone, and I will not 'get out of your face' as you put it. I'm not letting you go Dante. I've already lost my memories. I don't plan to lose a friend. So, **no.**"

The shouting match and the high tempers in the room dropped to a frigid temperature after Dante heard this.

"What did you say?" He asked dangerously capturing Hallie's haughty grin eyes with his red ones.

"I said no," Hallie replied, eyes narrow. Now she was angry. It had flared earlier with Dante's confusing statements and his lashing out at her for no particular reason, but now it was on.

"You're wrong Dante. I don't know what happened in this room that caused you to get all your feathers ruffled, but don't take it out on me! Don't push people away and blow up at them for things out of their control. I didn't control the loss of my memory. I didn't choose to forget. It just happened!"

The two stood toe to toe, staring eye to eye (with Hallie dishing out a particularly angrier stare of indignation with the "slight" height difference between herself and Dante) both waiting for the other to break off the glare war. Hallie caved first.

She let out her frustration with a noticeable sigh before suddenly chuckling.

"We are out each others throats, and I for one do not know what started this fight in the first place."

The red in Dante's eyes dimmed to smoldering embers as he too began to calm down. He was silent, thinking, or so Hallie presumed before he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, Hal." After uttering the apology he clammed up unwilling to go into further explanation out loud.

_I'm an idiot! A complete dolt! A jerk taking this out on you. I was angry, but I know better. AH! I'm becoming more like _**him**_, truly._

Hallie interrupted his self loathing with a rather justified if not curious question.

"Would you care to explain why you erupted, Mr. Mt. St. Helens?" Hallie teased him, smiling softly while punching his arm.

Dante caught the hand and lowered it back to Hallie's side.

"My dad, and my nightmares," he replied cryptically before releasing Hallie's hand. Oh dear, now he was getting emotional, and his tongue was loosening. Not good for self preservation of the ego.

"Sometimes I wish I hadn't been born. Life would be a lot easier for a lot of other people."

"Are you really that miserable?"

Dante was silent contemplating. No, he wasn't miserable it was just…

"He threatened you. All of you. The group. XANA will mow down any obstacle in his path to accomplish his goals. And right now he sees his obstacles as Riley, Sakura, Drew, and you. I won't let him win. XANA won't win. I'll protect you. All of you."

"You're starting to sound very much so like Anakin Skywalker. Don't go be making any deals with the devil, Dante. Heaven knows we don't need an evil genius trying to take over the world."

Dante smiled a very small almost nonexistent smile, "XANA will not turn me. Remember that, Hal."

His eyes were back to a serene onyx. It was over, for now. Hallie, not done, decided to have the last word.

"I will do anything to help you, Dantes. Remember that."

"Thank you."

A strange look crossed Hallie's face before she smiled a wry smile.

"Don't thank me now. You might hate me later," she murmured before speaking up so that everyone (and others) may hear. "Alright. Now about this tower. How bad could it actually be?"

At the tower

"That's pretty bad," Hallie said with a look of shock on her face.

Riley whistled in disbelief, "I for one am impressed. You are one evil genius."

Dante stood aloof as the trio admired the tower's black aura. Riley shifted from foot to foot, and Sakura coughed. The silence was crippling, and still, Hallie didn't move from where she stood appraising the tower.

"You did this?" she asked Dante.

Dante gave her a silent nod.

"Uh-huh. This tower is connected with the weather?" The last sentence wasn't a question.

"If Drew was here, he would say this is why Dante's been such a sourpuss. His moodiness activated a tower which affected the weather," Sakura remarked.

Hallie nodded absentmindedly. The tower in Sector 5, what a trek that had been. Dante had scared off any monsters, and Riley and Sakura before Hallie punched him for suddenly gaining a sense of humor (it was a fist of pink energy. If Dante wasn't immune to being devirtualized then he would be back in the scanner room).

Now here Hallie was in front of the tower not doing anything. Her mind was filled with ideas. Shaking away her non-relevant plans, she stepped toward the tower phasing through the wall. Opening her eyes, Hallie took in the inside of the tower. The XANA symbol glowed and lit under her feet.

"Hey Drew, get everyone off Lyoko," Hallie requested before walking into the center to of the tower. Gently being tugged into the air, Hallie reflected.

Dante could activate towers, intentionally and unintentionally. He was a danger to himself and to the world. The thought sadden Hallie because many people had been locked away into jail and the loony bin because of such faults. The saddest thing was that it wasn't Dante's fault. He wasn't causing the instability. XANA was.

Touching off onto the top platform, Hallie placed her hand on the screen.

Name: Halinor

Code: (blink, blink) L-Y-O-K-O

The tower shut down around her; data boxes plunged down into the base of the tower while the tower resent itself to its normal functions. Soon the landing glowed as the white light of the tower gently enveloped Hallie, lowering her to the bottom most portion of the tower. Almost halfway down the data boxes on the side of the tower spun to life circling Hallie. The intensity increased in their whirling, and Hallie realized with a shock that she hadn't told Drew to bring _her_ to earth. She still had another tower to deactivate, the one which allowed the polymorphic clone to appear on earth.

_What's going on? _She wondered before materializing on earth.

-

As the tower's aura lightened from black to blue, Dante felt his stomach clench which was odd for Lyoko. Beside him Sakura and Riley became wire frames before fading out of existence. How utterly odd.

Earlier en route to present deactivated tower, Dante had felt the other tower (that he had activated, he reminded himself grimly) deactivate seemingly by itself. He hadn't prompted it, nor had Hallie, and it was still a part of the tower network. A mystery.

Shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant manner, Dante materialized himself back to earth (after all, no one was able to devirtualize him; not even Hal).

Back on Earth

Annoying strands of brown hair dangled in front of Stella's nose as she emerged from the scanner. Riley looked up from where he sat slumped against an empty scanner as she emerged. Sakura was sleeping (dozing, napping…) head hanging over her chest in what looked like an uncomfortable position, and Dante was being…Dante ('nough said).

"Were you all waiting for me?" Stella asked stepping out of the scanner. Sakura jerked awake with a start muttering incoherent babble. "What's going on?" she asked bewildered. At the sight of Stella, she relaxed and stood, stretching. Soon Sakura answered her own question.

"We're going to go up and pound Drew for devirtualizing us, and then we're going to pound on Dante for taking us out of our warm beds and into the twilight zone."

Dante didn't move a muscle at this breaking news, and Riley spoke answering the unspoken question as to why the pounding wasn't being carried out.

"The elevator isn't running."

Stella smiled a smug smile, looked at Dante and pointed at the elevator before giving Dante her million dollar smile.

"Care to help us humans?" she asked. Dante sighed.

"Use the stairs," he said, but all the same Stella grinned victoriously. _Dante is to nice of a guy_, she thought as the elevator doors opened. (He's her friend, and she has him whipped.)

-

The resulting flow of conversation, mostly between Sakura and Stella with a few side comments from the guys, covered many bases ranging from topic to topic with ease throughout the elevator ride. From school to books, to secret passageways, to history, to Red Dawn, and finally to IHOP, the conversation didn't cease during the elevator ride up to the computer control room. The conversation screeched to a rapid halt at the sight or really presences found in the control room.

"Halinor Estella Belpois, we need to talk," declared a firm voice.

Light headed suddenly, Hallie replied instinctively, "Mom…Dad…You're here."

The Belpoises were in the building. Professor Belpois was seated in the computer chair like he owned it, which was very much a valid possibility considering the deep revenues of Belpois Industries. Drew was sitting against the wall near the super computer talking with great enthusiasm to someone, or more accurately, some lady.

Upon the elevator's arrival of the motley crew, the lady rose to her feet and went to stand by Professor Belpois. One thing about Aelita that hadn't changed over the past two almost three decades was her love of all things frilly of the hue or shade of red. Elegant Aelita.

She looked past her daughter to Dante and lacked gazes. "If you would give us a moment, we would like to speak to our daughter alone."

Drew walked into the elevator, and Dante pressed the elevator button. The sliding doors closed silently before the elevator rumbled up toward the top of the shaft. Aelita and Jeremy turned their gaze back to their daughter who was looking at them bewildered.

"I missed you too?" she asked uncertainly.

Aelita smiled, came over, and hugged her daughter. She stepped back frowning.

"Jeremy, I don't like only being able to see my daughter with a time frame of months in between. It's not healthy for family relations." Aelita started playing with a strand of Hallie's hair.

"She wouldn't like it if we took her away from her friends or the area," Jeremy pointed out.

Aelita smiled back, brilliance in her eyes. "I'm not saying we should move her closer to home. I'm saying we should bring home closer to her."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow, "School?"

"She could be a day student, and we could monitor her curfew and choice in boys." Aelita replied easily.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out!" Hallie interjected frantically, "What are you

guys saying?"

"We're discussing your schooling and when we're going to allow you to date," Aelita answered.

"I gathered that, but shouldn't you guys be down my throat about, well, my involvement with Lyoko, a particularly life threatening extracurricular activity which I have purposefully neglected from mentioning to you two."

"No to the first part and you've forgotten something concerning the second part," Jeremy replied.

"I'm…confused," Hallie said after a moment of silence, "Is this one of those things I did but forgot, or really, what do you guys know that I don't?"

"What we know is something you don't remember."

"Well that is less then helpful. I gathered that!" said Hallie on the verge of exasperation.

"Watch your tone of voice young lady," Jeremy warned his daughter.

"Yes sir." Hallie ground out, "I'm sorry. (Deep breath. Inhale and exhale). Would you please explain what you two remember what I don't, why Mom is here, and why you both are inside the factory?"

"I called your mother down from the homestead to discuss you, and for both of us to discuss with you Lyoko."

"O-Kay,"

"27 years ago you popped up in the past as Stella Stern. It raised alarms, naturally about the super computer, the return to the past function, and time travel." Jeremy explained.

"Your father wished to experiment with this endeavor, or at the very least investigate it further," here Aelita gave her husband _the_ _look_, "but after a few trials and error he let it go. Fast forward 24 years into the future when we began selecting which schools to send our daughter to, and you picked Kaddic."

"I did?"

"Yes, you asked 'where did you guys go? I want to go there!' Then later on into the school year the return to the past started unexpectedly going into use."

Jeremy and Aelita exchanged looks, "You ended up confronting us about our past involvement on Lyoko first before we could look into the matter. It was an interesting chat that we had."

"It's not your fight," Hallie muttered lost in thought.

"After sorting out our issues and concerns we, for the most part, decided to leave you, all four of you, to fight XANA with minimal intervention." Jeremy said.

"It was hard," he continued, "to let it go. Everyone in the group agreed with that, but we let you go. We helped discreetly, but as you said to us in our previous confrontation. It wasn't our fight any longer."

"I'm glad you remembered that," Aelita said, pleased and affectionately ruffled her daughters brown head. Hallie made a face but tolerated it. Jeremy let out a soft chuckle.

Hallie shook her head, "I kind of remember it, but it's fuzzy. (Pause) So you guys aren't mad at me and aren't going to pull me out of school?"

Jeremy nodded his head in confirmation. "You are staying where you are. The last time we interfered with Lyoko and its warriors it ended disastrously."

Aelita momentarily ceased petting Hallie's head.

"O.K., but I have a couple of things I need you to clarify with me."

"Shoot."

"1. So you guys have known about Lyoko and XANA and decided to let us handle it by ourselves?"

"Yes, and we weren't leaving you on your own. Every previous Lyoko warrior from Ulrich to Odd and your father are acting as sentinels watching at a distance ready to help if requested."

"O.K. 2. Drew and Dante kind of found out about my secret identity after I returned from your past all those years ago. Am I in trouble?"

Aelita grinned, "If they will keep it a secret, and you don't go proclaiming it to the world, then you can continue to attend Kaddic Academy next year."

"Awesome! All right, last question. What kind of time travel experiments/investigations did Dad conduct?"

Jeremy refused to speak, and Aelita gave him _the look_ before giggling.

"You'll find out, eventually. Hal, your father and I have discussed this topic and have reached this conclusion. Jeremy?"

Jeremy sighed and adjusted his glasses. He gave Hallie the look of authority. The look that basically told Hallie she would be doing and obeying whatever he said next without any ifs, ands, or buts.

"No boys."

Hallie's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as a spark of indignation tried to catch flame.

"And no dating. Since we aren't present to veto whatever boy you may fancy, you aren't allowed to date until further notice."

Hallie drew in a breath to protest, but Jeremy beat her to the punch.

"Also, I will be gone for the next couple of weeks therefore I wouldn't be present to interrogate and torture potential dates."

"But you just started subbing!" Hallie protested.

"The Principal is talented at hiring excellent teachers quickly,"

In truth, Mrs. Hertz had warned Principle Delmas of her retirement a good two years in advance to start the search for a replacement teacher. Complications had arisen prohibiting the replacement teacher from immediately stepping up to the plate, and the need for a sub arose. Professor Belpois, checking with the Principal about Hallie, was present when the complications arose and had volunteered his help.

"Belpois Industries needs me back, so I'll be gone for the next couple of weeks. That is all. Family meeting dismissed."

Aelita took Hallie aside. "Don't worry," she whispered, "I'll have your father move us in by summer break. That'll leave plenty of time for dating. Now go see your friends before they have conniptions."

After Hallie departed (with hugs, kisses, and a short argument of 'no _I_ missed you more) Jeremy spoke quietly to his wife.

"I don't think he has quite forgiven me for our last interference."

Aelita knew exactly who and what interference he was referring to, and it wasn't the tower that she had deactivated on Lyoko recently.

"He lost her, in more ways then one."

"I'm worried about letting Hallie being around him. I'm not convinced about his mental stability." _I don't want him around our daughter._

"If he was going to go insane, he would have done so long ago. We have to trust him. We owe him. You know we do. We owe him that we have had a chance to have, hold, and raise our baby girl. We can't keep her to ourselves. Someday we will be giving her away to the man of her choosing."

"I don't want to loose her."

"Neither of us do, and Dante doesn't want to lose her one more time either."

Jeremy sighed and almost shyly took Aelita's hand in his. In response she rested her head against his shoulder sighing sadly. Neither of them wanted to lose their little girl. Not to time, the future, or to XANA.

Said not so little girl was emerging out of the elevator to where her friends waited. Smiling she related with disgust the no dating rule, bringing about much teasing and banter. Later she would sneak to the dark, silent one's side.

"So…I read your poem." Hallie started.

"And when do you leave?" Dante asked.

Hallie cocked her head to the side as she peered up at Dante. He had a weird look on his face. Carefully neutral. A mask.

"Eh? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not leaving. Contrary to popular belief my parents are pretty cool. They only get overprotective when it involves crime, the Mafia, gangs, crime lords, drug trafficking, and serial killers who like the color pink."

"Artificial intelligence trying to take over the world doesn't fit the bill?"

Hallie pursed her lips, "Apparently we've already hashed this out, and they act as the all Seeing Eye waiting for when their help is requested."

"Serial killers?"

"Long story, I was six and a loon hit on Mom resulting in Dad becoming more involved in Law Enforcement."

"Ah."

The two stood in silence before Hallie reproached a topic already broached.

"Don't be offended, it isn't very good or complete, but I thought of an end for your fallen stars poem."

Dante turned to eye Hallie with a strange expression on his face.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing! It's just; it's not an opera, Dantes. It needs a happier ending."

"Happier."

"Eh, yeah, but well, read."

_Hope comes in the form of light_

_Love ignites the stars once bright_

_A rising star stays the night._

"It's not done yet…"

"It's fine."


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61**

26.5 years in the past

"Are you sure this is a good idea Einstein?" Odd asked uneasily outside of the scanner.

It was a dark and stormy night. The lights flickered once and the low rumble of thunder could be heard overhead.

"I'm positive, now just step into the scanners." Jeremy reassured from his perch behind the supercomputer.

"If Princess knew, you wouldn't be doing this," Odd accused before complying. A new adventure.

"Alright, I'm starting up the scanners." As the scanners booted up and started their jobs, Jeremy nodded across the room to Ulrich.

"You go down too and get ready."

Ulrich shrugged and made his way down to the scanner room. He'd missed the mall experience with the girls. He was happy to have missed the torture.

Right as virtualization occurred for the two, lightning struck and took out the power briefly and, except for the supercomputer's battery, all went dark.

"Odd! Ulrich! Can either of you hear me?" Jeremy frantically said into the microphone.

No response.

No response.

He knew it had been a bad idea to re-turn on the supercomputer, but no, he just had to carry out his investigations. Yumi and Aelita would not be happy with him. Nope, not at all.

-

"I despise you!" Sakura hissed across the lunch table at Drew. Drew just smiled that infuriating grin that made Sakura's hackles rise even higher.

"And so the soap opera unfolds, again," Riley commented to Stella.

Stella nodded, "Those two are so predictable,"

_The Story_

"And now class we'll be passing out our scripts for our next class project," Ms. Applebee announced.

Ms. Applebee was famous for three things in the Freshmen English Department.

1. Her enthusiasm for literature

2. Her unique sense of style

Example: her dress embroidered with the Shakespeare's theater The Globe depicted on it with a play being acted out on it. 

3. The play her class would perform annually as a major grade

Last year the play was a Midsummer's Night Dream. The year before was Hamlet. The year before that it was Julius Caesar, all four acts. Which play this year would be (tragedy, most likely, Shakespeare, a given, and happy endings, pfft) was a mystery to all, except for the panel of judges and Ms. Applebee. And they weren't talking. Nope, lips of steel.

Every student participated whether as the cast or crew, and every student from every class (all three of them) were a part of this massive production. The play itself would be performed in front of the entire student body in three weeks. The students (older ones) picked the actors, and Sakura was not happy.

The 10 grade, second year students, from Mr. Simms English 2 class had watched the aspiring thespians audition and had assigned parts. Sakura, an unfortunate member of Ms. Applebee's 4th period class was coerced into auditioning for the play, by her brother (The little, no good, blackmailing, SCUM OF THE EARTH!).

Source of Blackmail material: her diary (she should just burn that treacherous book, but alas, it carried her heart engraved in its pages). Well, after the blackmail incident with its incentive to, literally, act, Sakura had surfed Spark Notes No Fear Shakespeare for auditioning material after deciding to use Portia's lines from Act II Scene I. The computer decided to not like or accommodate Sakura anymore, by going instead to Act III Scene II and freezing with only lines 64-105 on screen.

No matter how much sense she had tried to talk into the inanimate object

("Aw c'mon. WORK! You've gotta WORK! Please unfreeze, pretty please. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEE?!)

it would not unfreeze. Then tech help (Drew and Dante) refused to help, leaving Sakura to stare angrily at the screen for hours upon hours hoping to stare the computer into functioning properly. Finally, Dante took pity on her and unfroze the computer but by then it was 2 a.m. in the morning, and Sakura had long ago fallen asleep. It had been the marvelous beginning for a serious of unfortunate events in one of the worst bad days Sakura had experienced in her decade and a half of living.

"And if the star of our play would please come get their script. Come down Miss Stern," chirped Ms. Applebee.

"Yippee," Sakura sarcastically muttered before accepting her script from Ms. Applebee. Stella smiled at Sakura with a smile meant to be sympathetic and encouraging, but said smile was like pouring salt on an open wound. Lucky Stella was making the costumes alongside Tania Tomczyszyn.

"It could be worse," she started, trying to reassure, but failing miserably.

"How? How could this be worse? How does Ms. Applebee wanting to be "authentic" in Shakespearean representation of our non-Shakespearean play be any worse then it already is?"

"You could be kissing a girl," Stella sheepishly said.

"And cross dressing isn't bad enough?!"

"Well…it is a play."

"This is all Andrew Della Robia's fault!" Sakura fumed.

Stella nodded, "He probably did have a huge influence on the judging board assigning the cast. And he probably thought it would be a hilarious joke."

"I'm going to steal all his socks and burn them. I'm going to take all his homework and feed it to his dad's dog…"

Auditions hadn't gone well. Sakura never did have time to scrounge up Portia's speech. She had been thrust onstage, despite all jitters and not having any audition material, and into the spotlight in front of a panel of judges. Talk about being thrown to the wolves. Very aware of how big a fool she was going to make herself, she had frozen, croaked.

Her mind had been scrambling for something to say, anything before she disappeared backstage in complete mortification when she had caught sight of blonde hair and hazel eyes. All the blood left her face. At that moment her subconscious took over, seeing how her conscious self had frozen, and astonished the judges with her bold entrance.

"Friends! Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ear."

The snickering judges grew silent as Sakura caught their attention and drew them into Marc Antony's immortal speech alluded to in many works of literature, the media, and fanfictions.

"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him…."

_What's going on? __**Go with it! Give it life.**_

"…And I must pause till it come back to me (Sakura wept before staggering off stage "overcome").

The judges on the panel whistled incredulous.

"Did that just happen?" One blond girl asked peering at the spot Sakura had disappeared.

"She's good. Very good." Agreed another sophomore.

"She shows promise," remarked a member of the drama club, senior, male, had played Marc Anthony in Caesar all those years ago. So he was a tinsy bit biased to a good rendition of Shakespeare of a part he mastered all those years ago.

"Aw, we already gave the lead female role away!" remarked the blond sophomore girl.

"To who?" asked Drew.

"'A special spot must be reserved for a special actor'" quoted the blond girl, whose name was Antonia, "or so Ms. Applebee said."

One of the male judges on the panel snickered, "One of the guys probably disrespected the theater and its actors, so Ms. Applebee is casting him in the lead role for "traditions sake" a.k.a. punishment."

"Aw, that girl deserves a lead role," Antonia pouted. "She's good! A little stage struck, but good! Did you hear her? She spun the scene into life out of nothing! I was convinced she was a guy!"

Drew, who had been speculating, got an odd look in his eye.

"Well, is it agreed she deserves a lead role?"

All the judges chorused yes.

"Simon (the senior who had played Marc Anthony), how many leads do we have left?"

"Two, but they're both male roles."

"That's fine. I mean look at that talent! She even had doubting Antonia seeing Shakespeare in real life, besides Ms. Applebee doesn't seem to be too put off about swapping roles for genders sake. And her opposite will be a male."

"Well…"

"All in favor as casting Sakura Stern as Prince Charming say aye."

"Aye!" all agreed before paying attention to the next contestant.

"Then I'm going to rearrange his nervous system so his outside are his insides, and his insides are his outside!"

"I didn't know you were a pyromaniac?" Stella commentated as the bell rang.

"Oh, class. Don't forget we have rehearsal for The Frog Prince after school from 3:30-5:30. Don't be late!"

"It could be worse though," Stella said again as she walked alongside Sakura as they headed to lunch. "You could be Romeo in Romeo and Juliet."

Sakura shuddered, "Don't even joke! I wouldn't have auditioned if that was the case black mail or no blackmail. All of Shakespeare's characters seem to have a fascination with suicide!"

"True, true. Are you still going to disembowel and dismember Drew?"

Sakura scowled, "More like the good old fashioned silent treatment. He wasn't even fazed with my threats after they posted the case list. He just sat there looking smug!"

"If he's so annoying then why do you like him so much?"

Sakura tensed, "Who says I like him?"

"You, your diary, Riley, and the internet."

Sakura hissed in anger clutching her fists, "I was wrong. This is Riley's fault. He dies at dawn."

Stella patted Sakura on the back, "Now, now. To lunch and messy food fights."

"Oh yes, food fights," Sakura purred content as a kitten, "After all if I get in trouble, I can't be the Frog Prince."

"Just be nice."

"Fine, mother."

Stella laughed.

_This brings us back to the present_

"I despise you! In fact, I despise you so much, I'm leaving. C'mon Stella!" Sakura announced grabbing her lunch tray after swinging on her backpack. Stella sat bewildered, her fork frozen in mid air.

"When did I get dragged into this?" she asked even as she started to gather her things. "I don't think you guys will be seeing us that much in the future." She called over her shoulder before crossing the cafeteria behind Sakura.

"Girls," Drew said, hiding his mischievous smile by digging into his taco salad.

-

Sticky Note: 1/2/08

I bet you thought I was going to pull out Romeo and Juliet. Nope, like Sakura said, Shakespeare has a fascination with suicide in his characters. Nah-uh. I would have to up the rating. I'm going back to school on Monday. (wrinkles nose in disgust). So, I would appreciate some feedback before the next chapter comes out. It may take awhile…unless I get some feedback. Really, I get the best ideas from feedback. Like the confrontation last chapter. Anyhoo, in case you haven't caught my drift, review please.


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62:**

"I despise you! In fact I despise you so much, I'm leaving! C'mon Stella!" Sakura announced grabbing her lunch tray after swinging on her backpack. Stella sat bewildered, fork frozen.

"When did I get dragged into this?" she asked even as she started to gather her things. "I don't think you guys will be seeing us that much in the future." She called over her shoulder before crossing the cafeteria behind Sakura.

"Girls," Drew said, hiding his mischievous smile by digging into his taco salad.

Over on the opposite side of the cafeteria, Sakura and Stella sat with other freshmen working on the play.

Tania leaned in conspiratorially toward Stella. "Lovers quarrel," she uttered with a certain tone. If Stella had been a manga character she would have sweat dropped right then.

"More like hypersensitivity to all matters of the heart." Stella replied.

After all, anger is usually a convenient cover to hide pain or fear deep down inside someone.

A good period of time later

"Hey, Sakura, can I talk to you? Friend to friend? Faux sister to faux sister?" Stella asked after cornering her target, Sakura after rehearsal.

Sakura, grumbling about cross dressing and cross gender roles, ceased and grew momentarily serious for a change.

"Sure, what about?"

"You." Stella replied.

"What about me?"

"Ah, it's something you need to hear, and from me rather then any of the guys."

"Okay, shoot. Be brutally honest.

_You asked for it,_ "Grow-up."

A pin dropping would have made more noise in the vacuum of sound now filling the room.

"Seriously," Stella continued, "Grow up. It's been two weeks since we've been assigned our parts and were given our scripts. You've been ignoring Drew for two weeks. Grow up. You are acting like a child throwing these sporadic temper tantrums.

"Yes, Riley likes pushing your buttons and trying to get a rise out of you; he's your brother. Drew was probably trying to get a rise out of you also, and he succeeded. You blew your top. You humiliated yourself by acting like an eight year-old told to go to bed early. 'I hate you! You're the meanest person on the planet.' Just grow up. Stop acting like a little kid and act your age."

Sakura stared at Stella.

"Oh," Stella added, "I'm done."

"I can't help it. When he does those things I just…react." Sakura defended picking up a broom to sweep lint into an abstract shape.

"Well, react differently," Stella replied practically.

"It's not that easy."

"You don't trust him." Stella spoke with great confidence.

"That's not tr—,"

"Don't lie to yourself. You don't trust him. If you did, you wouldn't erupt on him about the pettiest of things, like blaming him for my draining or devirtualizing us off of Lyoko, and for your part in the play. Have you ever thought there may be a reason why he most likely helped influence the panel into making you the frog prince?"

Here Sakura chuckled, "Well, here I was silently thanking him. The princess role qualifies as the ditziest of all ditzes in the history of ditzes. I would hate being the princess, but I haven't necessarily liked the whole guy lessons the cast have been putting me through."

"See, you girl need to work on your trust. Drew is your teammate on Lyoko, and I know for a fact he would take any laser bolt or worse for you."

"Trust is something you earn Stella." Sakura retorted.

"Hasn't he earned that trust by being your teammate for two years?" Stella shot back.

Sakura was quiet unable to deny the last statement, but unwilling to let go of her pride to confirm it. Stella smiled; satisfied she had planted the seeds in Sakura's head, she turned to leave. Maybe now Sakura would treat Drew with a less childish manner.

"What about you and your trust issues from before?" Sakura called to the departing Stella. Self preservation anyone? Fingering the broom handle her gaze didn't waver from Stella's thoughtful silhouette.

After searching herself, Stella slowly nodded, "Yeah, I trust him, with a lot. And everyone else, even Drew."

"Is he worth it?" Sakura asked, curious. They both knew that Sakura wasn't referring to Drew here, but the other computer whiz.

Here Stella smiled and spoke with the firm confidence of belief before exiting the stage. "I expect him to be."

Sakura shook her head in mock disapproval. _She's head over heels and doesn't even recognize it._ Sakura chuckled to herself the sound drifting across the seats down into the audience seating areas. _If he breaks her heart, he's in for a world of pain from the fantastic three and Mama and Papa Belpois. I hope he is worth it, for Stella's sake. Trust, huh?_

-0-

Sakura poked her head into Ms. Applebee's office. The walls were adorned with book posters (if books had movie posters), a huge calendar, and a quilt. The computer was humming as a Belpois Industry's screensaver teleported to various locations on the screen. The scent of cinnamon from Ms. Applebee's scented candle was there, but there was no sign of Ms. Applebee.

"Miss Applebee?" Sakura called into the empty room.

"Yes," came Ms. Applebee's voice from right behind Sakura. Inwardly, Sakura jumped before turning around to face Ms. Applebee.

"Oh, hello Miss Applebee."

"Hello Sakura," Ms. Applebee replied holding a mug of egg nog in her hands, "Did you wish to speak with me about something?"

"Isn't that a bit out of season?" Sakura asked pointing at the egg nog.

A smile quirked on Ms. Applebee's lips, "Perhaps, but I love it all the same."

"Anyway, about the play," Sakura said refocusing back on the reason why she was here talking to Ms. Applebee, "Would it be possible to find a different person to be the Frog Prince? I am, um, not the best fit."

The eggnog swirled violently around in its cup as the mug was placed firmly down on the desk akin to a judge's gavel sounding through the courtroom. "Ridiculous. You perform marvelously during rehearsals."

"But its one thing to perform in front of the cast and crew and another to perform in front of an audience, and well, I don't handle lots of attention well. Or stress. I tend to explode. The last time I spoke in public, I fainted."

"And yet you have the lead role of the Frog Prince."

"That was a fluke," Sakura concluded, "I don't know how I managed to audition, but I did. Look Miss Applebee, what I'm trying to say is that because of my fear of public speaking I didn't even want to audition in the first place. I was blackmailed into auditioning, and I really don't want to play a male role, especially a lead male role."

The ticking of the clock could be heard in the room while Ms. Applebee stared at Sakura. "So you are asking me for permission to let you quit," Ms. Applebee summarized eyeing Sakura in perhaps a different light then the one she saw in class.

"I'm asking if I can have a different, less conspicuous role then the Frog Prince, preferably a female role. I'll still have stage fright, but can't I at least take baby steps, something I can manage, when overcoming it instead taking huge superhuman leaps? I mean the lead role is, well…"

"I see what you're saying. Don't be so ambitious you fail. Alright, well actually, you're in luck. A part has opened up. The Princess Jade's (heroine) best friend Princess Mira, formerly played by Ashley Simms, has opened up. Ashley is sick, poor dear, with a leg infection. Went swimming at a water park with an open wound. She's going to be in the hospital for a week if not more, and she won't be walking anywhere for a while.

"I'll give you a deal. Sakura I will give you the less conspicuous role of Princess Mira if you will find me someone to play the Frog Prince and the Princess Jade, and will train them in the remaining time for the play. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, thank you Miss (reality catches up with her) wait, why do I have to find a new Princess Jade? What's wrong with Spencer?" Sakura asked surprised.

Ms. Applebee sighed, "Spencer decided having fun was more important then keeping up with his responsibilities. In short he has become ineligible to perform. We now need a new princess. Stop standing there gawking Miss Stern. You have less then a week and a half to school your replacements. I want to have them presented to myself and the rest of the cast and crew by tomorrow's rehearsal."

"Thank you Miss Applebee!" Sakura called as she left Ms. A's office. Once out in the school hallways the situation fully hit her. _Oh great. Now who do I know that has always wanted to be a prima donna?_

….

"Thank you so much Tania!" Sakura gushed out, relieved. Tania turned back to her costumes she and a team of mothers and teen seamstresses/tailors were working on.

"Don't mention it. I have the lines practically memorized from all the rehearsals I've sat through stitching; besides," here she giggled, "it should be fun."

"Miss Applebee wants to see you at tomorrow's rehearse. Oh," Sakura paused as a thought occurred to her, "Any recommendations for a new frog prince?"

Tania tapped her chin in thought. "Who do we know that we love to hate and would love to seriously dish out some major discomfort on?" Tania mused thinking out loud. Sakura thought for a moment too. Then she smiled. Even her eyes seemed to smile.

"Well, that's an evil grin," Tania commented uneasily. Sakura had the look of evil brilliance on her face that her friends feared. It was a look that meant incredible discomfort was following for an unfortunate person.

Sakura started to chuckle, "I know exactly who I have in mind."

Fast forward

"Hey Drew?" Sakura cooed in a gooey manner which caused the hairs on the back of Drew's had to stand up straight. Primitive instinct told him to run for the hills.

"I have a favor to ask." Sakura continued.

-

At Rehearsal the next day

-

"Alright, there have been a few last minute changes in the cast due to extenuating circumstances. Please welcome and help our new Princess Mira (Sakura curtsied), Princess Jade (Tania blushed) and our Frog Prince. Please do whatever is possible to prepare them for the show.

Steven (the same Steven who had shot spit balls at Stella in science, who Sakura had previously tried to drow-"dunk" underwater, was chased by hormone driven zombified losers, whose trade mark word is loser) grumbled something about idiot sophomores, poker, double dog dares, and losers with blonde hair as the class applauded around him.

-

Three Days until the Play

-

"Oh dear," murmured the nurse, "Not another one."

The nurse motioned to Antonia (our favorite blonde chick judge) as she supported a limp and speechless Simon (former Marc Anthony also a judge from ch 61).

"Another one?" Antonia echoed her brown eyes piercing the nurse's grey ones.

"Yes, a bug as been going around the school. It's a strange twist of the flu." The nurse replied as they maneuvered the tall senior to the only empty sick bed left in the room.

"The symptoms are headache, drowsiness and extreme fatigue with a light fever. After an hour or so the fever breaks, but the patient is extremely fatigued." The nurse sighed, "And the strange part is that girls are seemingly immune to it."

"What? Really?" Antonia asked shocked. Come to think of it all the sick beds in the nurses office did have only guys on them. "How do you know?"

"He is the 100th case I've seen or heard about. The previous 99 were all of the male gender also."

"That's just plain freaky," Antonia stated. The nurse sighed in her agreement.

"The boys are dropping like flies, and the freshmen play is in three days. I personally hope this bug steers clear of Ms. Applebee's cast and crew."

Antonia nodded sympathetically while remembering one of Ms. Applebee's favorite sayings. The show must go on!

Sticky Note 1-21-08: You know what. I don't care. You can review or not review but I will write this story regardless. Non-reviewers are noobs. :-P


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63:**

Hallie was on Lyoko, alone. Why? Because Dante, the incredible Typhoid Mary immune to all diseases, was sick. It was such a scary occurrence that she had to pop up on Lyoko. Dante, also being sick, decided to inadvertently take down Riley and Drew with him.

After calling the nurse's hotline and shooing Sakura away from the contagion, Hallie had managed to drag the three tall, heavy guys (no easy task there mind you) to an empty classroom where one of the teachers had converted his room to a sleeping room for all sick students. After covering the guys with blankets and giving each one a pillow, Hallie sat and worried.

That was yesterday. On the eve of the play.

While in the classroom with the desks pushed to the perimeter of the room, Hallie had noticed something strange. All the sleeping sick people were guys. Some were waking up from their beauty sleep to be quickly checked by a frenzied school nurse and were then told to go back to their dorm, rest, and drink lots of fluids before returning to class.

The school was missing a good quarter of their students seeing how the day students that were sick were stuck at home. The very few guys who had recovered or remained uninfected were a scant few. The only reason the students weren't in class suffering was because of the deep sleep they went into before their slight fever broke.

Idly, Hallie wondered if the Principal was going to close the school. It didn't seem logical since all of the girls were fine, while a good third of the guys were sick, another third recovering and the last seemingly immune.

_Maybe it's a chromosome thing._ She had thought lazily. She hadn't really been shocked unto she realized Dante, the white blood cell Mr. Immune who doesn't get sick, was sick.

So here she was having hurriedly virtualized herself onto the forest sector. If the fact Hallie was on Lyoko alone wasn't enough, she was missing The Frog Prince production and could possibly receive a low if not failing grade in English for failing to appear. What she did for her guys. _O.K. girl. Calm down and find your tower._

(-:-)

Sakura peered worriedly at the crowd from behind the stage curtains. All of the student body with the exception of the guys asleep (though they were in their seats asleep) and the ones held hostage at home by overprotective mothers. All students able to walk and had the attention span and will power to stay awake for an hour were present.

Sakura was wearing a masterpiece of craftsmanship: a red renaissance dress that had puffy red sleeves with slits baring the white fabric underneath the sleeves complete with an annoying and itchy ruffle around her neck. She actually had real petticoats that rustled as she walked. It was very pretty, very hot, and very heavy. Tania and her army of seamstresses had outdone themselves.

Now looking out over the audience, she distinguished Riley, Dante, and Drew amidst the sea of people and her hand started to creep up to itch her neck right where the starched, snow white ruffle was. A slap to the offending hand jerked Sakura away from the crowd and all pre-show jitters as she held her stinging hand to her chest.

"Ms. Applebee wishes to speak with the cast and crew before we start the play," Tania said decked out even more gloriously then Sakura, wearing a blue renaissance styled dress with gold embroidery and a purple bodice. A delicate silver tiara and costume jewelry finished the ensemble. Sakura did not even wish to even think about touching her hair for fear of having it all topple down like a tower of Janga blocks.

Sakura nodded and gulped in anticipation. Sensing buried nerves in Tania, Sakura smiled, "You're going to perform wonderfully, Tania."

"You will too." Tania replied.

The worried look returned to Sakura's face. "I hope so." She croaked.

-

In the dressing room was the location of the impromptu pre-show speech, and Ms. Applebee, decked out in another fantastic dress on the bizarre side of fashion, had captured all attention in the cramped room of sardine packed students.

"The immortal Shakespeare wrote in his play, _As You Like It_ that, _All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts._ Now we are going to go out there and follow through with acting out one of our many roles. We have all worked hard and we will show the student body exactly what we have worked toward with our show today. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Thespians all, let's go out and start the show!"

(-:-)

Hallie wasn't a genius programmer like her dad or Dante, but she was a decent one. Now, she might not be hacking into people's computers, bamboozingy their bank accounts, or crashing the internet or creating skiffs that go into the digital sea or do anything else remarkable smart, but she could work her way around java. And when the time called for it she herself could be brilliant.

Scary brilliant. Evil genius brilliant. But it took a lot to get those neurons in her head bouncing around enough for that specific brain blast. This was why she was fumbling around with no idea of how she could help Dante.

Dante's strange succumbing to the illness going around the school wasn't the only reason Hallie was on Lyoko. She wanted to test a special program she was attempting to write. Keyword being attempting. Other then scrambled ideas on sticky notes she had a clear drawing board. Right now she was using this program, the nonexistent one, as therapy to keep the nightmares away. It was like her imaginary friend there and real but not.

It was frustrating having nothing completely nothing. No ideas of how to make it work. She didn't even know how she was going to help Dante. That was the crux of the matter. She couldn't help anyone without knowing how to help them.

Hallie wasn't a genius, but she had to be. One, to help Dante. Two, to keep the memories away. Her sleep was like A Christmas Carol with Shadows of Christmas Past, Present, and Future only she didn't know what she was supposed to be worrying about.

Hallie shivered involuntarily suddenly cold. She was close. Very close. The tower was somewhere the surrounding area. So far everything in the sector looked normal. A sudden wave of vertigo hit Hallie as she staggered into a tree. Oh, yes the joys of recovering her hidden talents. She gets five senses on Lyoko while everyone else gets two.

Oh yes, the tower was close. With the wave of dizziness gone Hallie rose to her feet hearing the faint oncoming heart beats of the tower. A tremor coursed beneath her feet seconds later racing down the tree lined pathway. Hallie began to follow the tremor only to stop at a fork in the road.

_All right, don't fail me now. Which way do I go?_ Hallie closed her eyes and waited listening. A slight whisper of wind in her mental ear tugged at her thought. Hallie opened her eyes ready to proceed and immediately screamed.

(-:-)

Something was wrong, and it wasn't nerves Sakura realized. She was playing her role as Princess Mira alongside Tania as Princess Jade. The two were seated at a dining table, donated by the theater department, with the "King" and "Queen" of the castle.

From the sound booth came the cue of three knocks at the castle's door and the soft electronic springing sound of the Frog Prince's hopping. When the knocks echoed through the auditorium was when Sakura first sensed something was amiss. Was it just her or was something happening to the audience? The heat from wearing this wool coat of a dress and sitting under the spotlight wasn't getting to her, was it?

She also waited in nervous anticipation for Steven to "hop" onstage in the Frog Prince's Costume. Who wasn't to say he wouldn't ditch at the last moment. He had been tricked into playing the part much like Sakura had been. So she waited for Steven to appear as the Frog Prince coming to have the Princess Jade keep her end of the bargain.

The scene was supposed to have the Princess scream in shock at the sight of the ugly amphibian coming and haunting her. Tania still calm and chatting with her "parents" was regulating her breathing storing up breath for the big moment. Sakura could see Tania brace herself for the scream.

'Bloody murder for the shock of your life,' Ms. Applebee had coached, 'Don't squeak. Scream.'

At the sight of what hopped onstage Tania did scream as rehearsed, only she didn't stop. It was most certainly a scream of shock that would have won academy awards for the realistic shock and terror and surprise that Tania had showed. Tania's scream was truly one of shock and when it seemed that she wouldn't stop, she did, when she fainted.

Sakura felt lightheadedness herself at the strange sight she saw. _Please let this be a cruel prank so I can kill Steven for it later._

Sakura had the sinking feeling it wasn't a prank. The screams and chaos coming from the audience was a sure sign enough.

* * *

"Princess?"

* * *

One word. Frogs. Lots and lots of frogs. The auditorium was filled with frogs. All the girls were screaming with the exception for the coolheaded, amphibian loving girls and those that were in a state of shock similar to Tania's. And the guys… 

Wait, there were no guys. Not one anywhere. No human with the XY chromosome was present in the room where seconds ago there had been many. In the place of the guys were frogs.

A good majority of the students ran screaming around the room where the other half were organizing, (Sample text: "Where are the torches and pitch forks?! An angry mob isn't complete without torches and pitchforks!) while others were following Tania's example and fainting.

Sakura had turned and managed to make good use of her itchy, starchy ruff. She was using it to fan Tania with the hope she would regain consciousness. Then the ground trembled. Slowly, Sakura came face to face with the frog that was supposed to be Steven. Apart from a tiny crown on his head he looked like any other frog.

Except for his eyes. The frog's eyes were white and be showed a pulsing XANA symbol in it. Dread coiled in Sakura's gut.

She noticed the silence then. All the screaming hysterics of two thirds of the female population had disappeared. When had that happened? When had the girls flown the coop? The frog hopped closer to Sakura who had fallen back into her chair, frozen.

Carefully, Sakura pushed her chair back slowly, slowly, oh so slowly making no sudden movements. Frogs from the audience started hopping toward her. Then self preservation overruled care as Sakura knocked her chair over and bolted.

When the sudden weight landed on her shoulder Sakura did the first thing that came to her. React. Scrunching her eyes shut she simultaneously swatted the thing away. Her hand connected with cool moist skin, frog skin. Eyes opening Sakura tracked the frog's motion as it hit the wall. The frog shook itself like a dog and turned its hazel eyes on her.

Time stopped.

"Drew?"

(-:-)

Hallie's scream was the short high pitched squeal of shock when someone hiding behind a door jumps you or a certain prankster decides to culminate lots of static electricity by shuffling across a carpet floor before touching your ear bud while you're wearing a wool sweater delivering quite a shock on the victim, literally. Well, Hallie had her reasons to be shocked.

"Aah!" she screamed.

"AH!" Odd yelled in shock, likewise.

"W-what are you doing here?" Hallie panted recovering from her scare.

"No," Odd said, also regaining his composure, "The question is what you are doing on Lyoko. Who are you? How did you get here, and why do you look like Princess?"

Hallie rolled her eyes at the blonde cat boy before looking at the sane yellow samurai.

"Stella, the scanners, and I am here to deactivate a tower."

"Really?" Ulrich asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah, really. How old are you guys?"

Another eyebrow raiser, "Sixteen. What's it to you?"

A look of realization crossed Hallie's face. "Dad was being a mad scientist again, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, wait. Dad?"

_Uh-oh._

"You're telling me, Einstein is your Dad?" Odd asked incredulous. He didn't give her time to respond. "And you look like princess, plus you said you're here to deactivate a tower. You're Princess and Einstein's kid! Wow! They're gonna be together!"

"Is that such a surprise?" Ulrich asked. His attention turned to Stella, "You're alone?"

Hallie nodded. _Wow, they're dense. They've just concluded I'm the daughter of their two friends yet they haven't seemed to grasp the fact for that to be possible that they would be out of their time zone and consequently in the future. Maybe they're just slow. But I expected more from Lyoko warriors. Oh well, might as well just tell them._

_It could be worse. They could have said I was Einstein and Princess's clone._

"You guys had better stick with me. Your about 26 years in the future by my estimates." Hallie turned and muttered to herself, "Dantes is going to love this."

"Where too?" Odd asked, oblivious to the time travel thing. Well, they did, do experience strange things on a regular basis. Or maybe they were dismissing her statement. Only time would tell.

"Follow the pulsations to the tower and eliminate monsters in our path." Hallie called over her shoulder.

"Simple, I like it." Odd started sprinting down forest pathway following a stream of pulsations.

Ulrich unsheathed his katana, "It's time for a good, old fashioned brawl." He too dashed off.

"I feel so alone," Hallie commented blandly to thin air before running after the two overenthusiastic time travelers.

-

The frog croaked an affirmative or so Sakura suspected. Sakura scooped up the frog and started hugging it to death.

"I'm so sorry!"

Another croak distracted her. The croak came from the wings of the stage. The frog had grey eyes.

"Riley?"

The grey-eyed frog croaked again. The croak had an ominous croaky quality attached to it, or maybe Sakura was hallucinating. Sakura tentatively looked behind her.

The frogs, all of them save the one croaking at her and the one she was still squeezing to death, _oops_, were massing together until half the stage was covered with varied shades of green, yellow, brown and gray and even the colorful red, blue, and yellow of poison tree frogs.

_They're teenage mutant frogs._ "And you're one of them! Both of you!" She said shooting an accusing glare at her brother and Drew.

Drew, or was he, croaked in a fashion that Sakura interpreted to be _that's beside the point_ or was it _fly you fool!_? But what could she tell? Sakura was distracted by an object unexpectedly landing on her left shoulder.

Swinging around arms flailing, Sakura came around to see the malicious sight of frogs clustered together. The pulsing XANA's eye caused Sakura to hesitantly start moving for the nearest exit.

There was one offstage that opened to the corridor containing the costume and dressing room. And the outdoor exit. Sakura hit the door's bar and pushed it open only to let it swing shut. Frogs were crowding the hallway. That escape route was gone, and more frogs had jumped in when she had opened the door now joining the bolder frogs from onstage that were slowly advancing toward her.

_THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!_ Sakura panicked. Her renaissance dress swirled as she ran for the nearest exit, the stairs to the catwalk and rafters. Sakura slammed the chain link door closed and dashed up the stairs suddenly not really liking the fact that her dress was a masterpiece of seamsmanship and was very heavy.

She also ignored three facts. One, Frogs can leap 20 times their own length (20-80 mm). Two, the record jump from a frog leap was 33 ft and 5.5 in. (roughly 13 meters). And three, the higher you go the easier it is to be cornered.

Why did XANA have to develop a sudden sense of humor?


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64:**

Some things never changed on Lyoko. Sure, some changes may come and go, but when you get down to the core fighting XANA's monsters on Lyoko is a constant in any Lyoko Warrior from whatever time period. The methods of the fight, the numbers, the allies and the vehicles or lack of vehicles change with every situation, but the fighting never disappeared forever.

It was natural then when a tower was activated on Lyoko that those seeking out the tower to deactivate it would clash with its protectors. The battle Odd, Ulrich and Hallie were engaged in was no different. The three were strung down a forest path fighting blocs and the snake like sicklets a.k.a. skillets.

"What are those things?" Odd yelled as he took a midair shot at the queen, so to speak, of his group of snakes.

"Well, they're officially named sicklets, but we call them skillets."

Shizck (a combination of shick and sizzle) was heard as Ulrich withdrew his sparking sword from the eye of a bloc. The bloc exploded while Ulrich whirled to cut down the second bloc behind him.

"Why?" He called mid stab.

"We?" Odd asked a beat after Ulrich, "Laser Arrow!" he yelled as he flipped behind the queen skillet to here the back of her flared hood bore the XANA symbol. The Queen exploded. Those boys were just full of questions, and gasp, they could multi-task. Talking and fighting at the same time, wow.

"We as in my team/friends/people who fight XANA on Lyoko with me, and why because sis picked the word randomly and it stuck."

Odd's eyes shined at the newest tidbit of information, "You have a sister?" he asked positively delighted with the family tree of the Belpois family filling out quite nicely. "Two o'clock!"

Hallie spun around shooting an energy sphere at the skillet behind her. Hissing the trapped skillet assaulted its prison with a barrage of poisoned needles. The needles rebounded through the sphere and ultimately through the skillet itself. Bye bye.

At first the close resemblance to her mom had caused Ulrich and Odd to coddle Hallie somewhat not allowing any opportunity for Hallie to take down a few monsters of her own. But after letting her energy spheres speak for themselves (she had trapped Ulrich in one, gave him a look and let him out) Hallie got a cut in on the monster extermination also.

"No, I don't have a sister. I am regrettably an only child. Sis, is a nickname for my best friend whose initials are "S", "I", "S"."_ This is short for Sakura Isabella Stern._ "The tower is in the clearing at the end of the path, past the crossroads up ahead."

Odd and Ulrich shouted their confirmations. Hallie, being further up the path closer to the tower, burst into a sprint down the path leaving Ulrich and Odd to finish up their fights behind her.

"Hey Ulrich, mini Princess is getting away!" Odd yelled down the path to his friend.

Ulrich grunted and made two clones of himself. A bloc and two skillets remained for him to dispose of. The skillets would be particularly tricky as they coiled around the tree trunks scales glinting in any unearthly light as their XANA's symbol were safely hidden.

"Go on after her. I'll catch up." He yelled before launching into his next attack with a 'super sprint!'

Odd shrugged and complied. He slid to a stop still separated from "mini Princess" at the crossroads. On to his right was a bloc along with a bloc on his left. Behind those blocs was a second round of blocs. The two blocs to his immediate left and right fired simultaneously. Thinking on his feet Odd jumped into the air mimicking a favorite skateboard trick he knew letting the two lasers pass beneath him and slam into the opposite bloc's target. The two blocs exploded. _Geniuses._

Odd landed and laughed. "Wow, I guess XANA's losing his touch. His monsters are losing brain cells!"

A numbing sensation choked off his laughter. In an act of revenge for the untoward comment one of the remaining blocs finished freezing Odd's left leg.

"Laser Arrow!" The offending bloc exploded. Odd turned his torso to face the fourth and last bloc.

"Laser Arrow!"

Click. Nothing.

"Laser Arrow."

Still nothing.

"Of all the times that I could run out of ammo!"

The bloc fired its next laser bolt.

"Shield!" Odd shouted summoning his purple energy shield to bloc the incoming lasers. This standoff couldn't last for long. Even out of the corner of his eye Odd saw a flash of blue and pink swivel back toward him. Princess's mini me, assumed daughter named Stella, turned around and started running back to assist the anchored Odd. In her hands a light pink sphere was beginning to fizzle into life…

…only to suddenly disappear as the Mini Princess slid to an unexpected stop.

The bloc fired again and again. The shield blocked again and again. Bewildered, Odd spared a glance down toward Stella. There was a weird gray sphere floating in front of Stella…

Hallie desperately tried to harness her energy offense willing an energy sphere into existence. Nothing happened, and the grey sphere with the sickly black XANA symbol emblazoned on its front continued to hover a foot from her nose.

This wasn't good. A paralysis spread throughout Hallie as the sphere continued to hover in front of her. She was frozen in front of that strange monster unable to move, or summon energy spheres, or speak. She was helpless.

Soon her desperate thoughts were invaded by the monotonous hum emitted from the sphere; it was hypnotizing. Was this what the sirens sounded like? A sound that stole coherent thought causing the listener to gradually lose rational thought?

Hallie was vaguely aware of a faint outcry from farther down the path before the world began to tilt and darkness started lining her vision. A faint cry of 'super sprint!' reached her ears as the darkness slowly crept across her vision narrowing the light until it was a vanishing pinprick.

The light came back full force and Hallie felt herself being shaken. She came to with two worried faces hovering above her.

"Are you okay?" Ulrich asked as Hallie regained equilibrium.

"I…think so," Hallie replied, dazed as she accepted a hand up.

"What was that? Some weird new monster?" Odd asked leg still frozen but detached from the forest floor.

"I don't know," Hallie replied feeling the slight buzz of her energy abilities returning. Without blinking the ice encasing Odd's leg melted. "Where did it go?"

"It escaped," Ulrich said darkly, eyes traveling to the horizon amongst the trees.

"How did you detach your leg from the forest floor? It was frozen." Hallie inquired of Odd.

Odd grinned. "A magician never reveals his secrets."

"Don't we have a tower to deactivate?" Ulrich inquired as he spotted far off tarantulas coming their way.

Hallie nodded, and the three ran down the path toward the tower not wanting to face X's reinforcements.

-0-

For the hundredth time Sakura breathed a sigh of relief that she was not afraid of heights. She was trapped up here, on the catwalk with three frogs in her lap. Three stories below her a green mass swarmed. At the end of the catwalk a rainbow of frogs watched Sakura.

Inhale. Exhale. Tilting her head against the rail, Sakura stared down her nose at one black skinned, red eyed frog.

"Have I ever thanked you lately for being a great friend?" she asked the frog whom she assumed to be Dante.

If not for Dante, Sakura strongly suspected she would have been left at the mercy of the frog mob. Dante had simply croaked at the pooling masses of frogs and they had frozen as if coming across an invisible wall they couldn't cross. So the frogs stared at Sakura, and Sakura stared at the frogs. For a XANA attack it was pretty pathetic.

"Dante, I think XANA's losing his touch. While nerve racking this attack isn't entirely life threatening, and other then the male students being turned into frogs it could be worse, much worse. It's pretty much a dud. Nothing's happening."

A croak.

"True, nothing is happening that we know of." Sakura paused, "I just understood frog speech. I knew I was crazy!"

Across the railway a ripple went through the frogs, and they all started croaking and jumping all at once. Puzzled at the new behavior Sakura scooped up a frog.

"Huh," she said while examining her captive, "The XANA symbol is gone, but no guys."

A second check over her shoulder confirmed no brother or human friends stood behind her. Sakura turned back to the examination of her frog. "Weird."

-0-

Hallie stepped out of the scanner and scanned the room. The yellow scanners on either side of hers hummed with ferocity before dispelling one blond with electrocuted/ antennae looking hair, and a brown haired guy wearing green.

The three just looked at each other with curiosity.

"Why's your hair brown?" Odd asked.

Hallie shrugged. _Might as well tell the truth._ "I dyed it." _Shocker._

"What about your eyes. They were green on Lyoko, not brown." Ulrich countered.

"Contacts."

_Simplicity and understatements. How I love them._

"Now what should I do with you two?" Hallie mused.

What should she do with two time travelers? They might return to their past with the return to the past, but when had the XANA attack started? Before or after their time travel fiasco? No, they would have to come with.

"Yeah, I don't see why they shouldn't," she thought out aloud, "Oh, why not. Come with and meet this generation's Einstein who will ultimately determine how to get you home."

-

At the school in the auditorium

-

"What happened here?" Stella asked wading through the sea of croaking masses toward the stage where Sakura and a semiconscious Tania sat.

"X attacked," Sakura monotoned.

"Oh, invasion of the killer frogs; where's Dante? I need to consult him about something."

"He won't be able to help you," Sakura continued an angry edge creeping into her voice, "At least not in his current state.

Struck dumb and into puzzlement, Stella did a retake. Sakura, limp hair style, a sullen mood and lots of frogs. Behind her Ulrich and Odd waded through the frogs passing unnoticed by the two girls as they seated themselves into two of the seats in the auditorium. Odd found a half full container of popcorn and started munching.

"Look, Sakura, I know the guys are sick, and from the looks of it XANA trashed the play, but I still think Dante will be able to work his usual magic on a computer even when he's sick."

Sakura's eyes flashed, "Not if he's a frog!" she countered before tossing an object straight at Stella.

For credit on Stella's part, she did not flinch away, close her eyes, or duck despite well bred instincts ingrained in her being from several self defense lessons. She caught the flying object, an object with cool moist dark skin and deep black eyes.

Deep black eyes stared into contact brown eyes.

"Dante?" Stella asked slightly shocked.

"XANA turned all the guys into frogs. Now, I assume the tower has been deactivated, and yet, they're still frogs! Everyone including Riley and Drew."

"Oh," Stella said looking away from Dante the frog, who she had placed on her shoulder. Just oh.

"Yeah, oh," Sakura countered with great sarcasm.

"Oh," Stella said in a sinking voice. That was a problem.

Over in the audience Odd paused in the midst of his munching on popcorn. Watching the two interact had been better then any reality TV shows for a source of entertainment. It was almost as intriguing as a soap opera, and he could actually do something here then if the situation was one from the TV.

So Odd thought, and thought while idly stirring the popcorn. Popcorn, popcorn, pop corn, popping corn, pop corning, poppy corn, pop corny, poppy corny, poppy, corny.

_Wait, corny!_

Suddenly Odd had a bright idea and snapped his fingers with the Eureka. Standing up he face the two and spoke with a shout.

"You're doing a play on the Frog Prince, right?"

Sakura and Stella nodded with hesitancy. What was he getting at?

"Well, (here comes the brilliance) kiss 'em and they'll turn back to normal." He concluded and then smiled brightly. Unfortunately one horrified and one intrigued stare met his bright grin.

"WHAT?!" shrieked Sakura.

"Look, you're the princess of the play, right?"

"N-no."

"You are wearing a crown. You're a princess. Kiss your frog and it'll turn into a human boy again.

A deep red appeared on Sakura's face as she refused to comment. Ulrich frowned at Odd.

"Save the jokes for when you're annoying Sissy. The same with the lame brain ideas."

"Actually," cut in Stella, "It makes sense."

A wicked gleam entered her eyes. Clambering onstage Stella whipped over to Sakura grabbed Riley and Drew, dropped Riley off into Tania's lap and Drew into Sakura's.

"Now our two princesses have frogs to kiss." Stella then leveled a hard look on Sakura cutting off whatever protests that tried to bubble up.

"Right now," she said in a cool, clear voice of deadly calm, "you have the choice of leaving them in their Froggy state forever just so you won't have to kiss them, or you can revert them back to their human selves. They will owe you big time. And (here Stella turned her attention to the frogs) if any of you give me lip, I will freeze you and send you to be the lab experiments in the next frog dissections. Understand?"

Sakura winced, thoroughly chastened while the frogs did not utter a sound. Sakura took a deep breath steeling her self.

"O.k., I'll do it, but you owe me frog."

Whether she ever planted the kiss or not was to forever remain a mystery because just then the blinding yellow white light of the return to the past engulfed the auditorium filled with frogs.

Though it should be duly noted that a faint blush had began to blossom not only on Sakura's cheeks, but on Stella's as well. The time traveling duo were the only witnesses, but all that will be told is that where there once were only two human males in the room, as the return to the past swept over a third had joined them.

-

26 years in the past with Jeremy

-

"Ulrich! Odd! Answer me!"

A long moment of silence endured before…

"Dude, Jeremy and Aelita sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, and then comes marriage. That's not all! That's not all! Here comes Jeremy with the baby carriage!"

"We're all right Jeremy; we just took a slight detour into the future, hence the singing."

Up in the control room Jeremy was puzzled until a blush spread across his face.

"Alright, I'm discontinuing the time travel operation and we're turning the supercomputer off, for good this time."

"Just get us out of here."

Walking away from the factory Ulrich and Odd flanking Jeremy encountered Yumi and Aelita.

"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Yumi.

Such a simple, mundane question should get a simple and mundane answer. Odd obliviously didn't get the memo. Eager, as ever to open his mouth, Odd replied, "Jeremy was a mad scientist and sent us 26 years into the future. We had fun."

"What?!"  
"Oh, and he sent Ulrich too."

Hell hath no fury…Jeremy had two raging females towering over him, one a Japanese teen girl who had a good knowledge of martial arts and the other his feisty pink-haired sweetheart. Apart both would be able to take him down. Together….He gulped.

"I-it was just an experiment, and they were only gone for five minutes tops."

"You sent them to the future?"

"I thought we had agreed to leave well enough alone."

Odd, proud of his work, turned grinning back to Ulrich. "Pizza, my Goodman?"

Ulrich shrugged with indifference, "Sure."

As the two walked away from the sheepish brain and enraged females, Ulrich pondered a moment before sliding his gaze over to Odd.

"Do you think we should tell him?"

All care freeness left Odd as he sobered momentarily.

"No, let him enjoy his freedom without worrying about XANA for awhile. He's not our problem currently, anyways."

"Currently," Ulrich replied.


	65. Chapter 65

**The short Chapter 65**

**(I'll make it up to you guys later)**

The thunderous applause from the audience filled the auditorium as the cast of The Frog Prince from all the classes came and took their bow. Soon the backstage crew and help came with them. The Frog Prince was a smashing success for the dilettante thespians, and all had occurred without a hitch.

No mysterious illness had struck down the male population of the school, all the members of the Lyoko group where alive and unchanged despite concerns (When the return to the past had brought the members a day into the past and the time traveling duo 26 years in the past, concern had been raised about how it would effect the space time continuum after a complete and thorough checking of all files, history books, historical documents and events that had occurred in the past 20 plus years, no effect was found, currently), and Sakura had faced the masses onstage and had survived three acts in her winter coat of a costume without one frog revolution springing to life. Beaming at the adoration the crowd bestowed on them it was a safe assumption Sakura would be dancing on Cloud 9 for many a day to come.

Down in the audience Stella and Riley clapped with different levels of enthusiasm (wild vs. moderate) as Drew unleashed piercing whistles appropriate for the occasion. Stella paused briefly to lean over and speak in Drew's ear in an attempt to out speak the noise.

"Did you get it on film?"

Nodding proudly, Drew brought out ye old camcorder and shouted back, "Yep, to bad Dantes skipped out. Where is the old wet blanket anyway?"

"The factory, he's worse then my father at working," Stella exclaimed.

The Principal's presence onstage soon registered to the present student body only when she spoke into the microphone.

"A stupendous rendition of the classic fairytale. Give it up again for Ms. Applebee's accumulated 9th grade English classes."

A thunderous outburst of applause resumed until the Principal and strategically placed teachers finally cooled the boil of the masses excitement to a more controlled murmur and finally silence.

"This spring many exciting things are coming up," Principal Sissy Delmas continued, "as all veterans of the school know the annual Junior Senior Masquerade ball will be hosted toward the end of the term. Juniors, Seniors, fundraiser material will be coming to you next week. All interested in signing up for the Dance Committee please see Ms. Malone for more information. Without your help this dance won't be a success."

"Masquerade ball?" Stella whispered.

"The equivalent to Prom at Kaddic," Riley spoke under his breath soft enough to escape any patrolling teachers baleful looks, but loud enough to be heard to those in the vicinity of a seat.

"It's just as it sounds; a costume party which only juniors and seniors are allowed into, unless they decide to bringer a younger student as a date."

"Don't worry," Drew interjected, "The freshmen and sophomores have a special event too. It's even better then a dance. Every year it's different. Last year we went to a water park." He chuckled, "XANA attacked and the sculptures throughout the park came to life. That was memorable. I managed to convince Dante to upload the pictures I took onto the super computer before we returned to the past. I use the footage for a mini-film of mine. _Terror from the Deep._"

A nudge from Riley and a hissing teacher drew the duo's attention back to Principal Delmas as she addressed the age group of interest for the trio in the audience.

"Freshmen, sophomores, this year Kaddic Academy has been honored with the privilege of taking the maiden voyage of Chronos Inc.'s newest Virtual Reality Gaming Center. We have been invited to use the machines all day on opening day. All students must have parent permission. Your homeroom teachers will pass out the needed information in the following week. Students, you are dismissed."

The auditorium emptied gradually as students trickled out and the stage crew began to deconstruct the set. All left accept for the shell shocked teens. The silence was one of incredibility and it was finally Riley who spoke at the end.

"Well, whaddya know?"

Stella could think of no commentary for the immediate occasion and remained seated in silence. Well, that is until Stella finally stood and stretch, reaching for the sky while letting out a high pitched yawn that finally decrescendos to the lowest pitch her voice could reach. Stretching her arms forward she started cracking her knuckles. Then dropping her arms she rested them lightly on her hips. Stella then angled herself into a position where she could see both of her guys.

"Well, I am going to rescue Sakura from the mob of adoring fans outside the auditorium."

Scooting down the aisle, Stella paused and turned back, "Aren't you guys coming? We're gong to need muscle if we're going to free Sakura from the adoring throng of people in order to bring her back to the real world."

Riley and Drew exchanged looks before complying. It would simply be too troublesome to argue with Stella on the matter.


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66:**

"Wow."

"I don't think I've seen anything fly that far before."

A thud came and the collective audience winced in unison.

"Ooh, that's gotta smart."

"Wait, wait, lookee there! Daggers! Wow, faster then lightning. Will he block it?"

"He did! Look, look, he just… ah man! That was totally wicked!"  
"Freakin' awesome, totally matrix dodging in midair."

"Ooh, she's pulling out her morning stars."

"He's jumping! He's in midair! He's behind her! Behind her!"

Collective wince.

"Wahoo! Round house kick right in the chest. That's gotta hurt."

"He's flying again, heading straight for a rock too."

"Wait, he's regenerating, addling life points, healing, using his nine lives."

"No more cat claws after using the regeneration ability, but he's switching to long range most likely with laser arrows."

"Oh, there's the fan. She's blocking the barrage. All of the arrows deflected!"

"Pass the popcorn."

"Did you see that? He's got a target on her. They're a foot apart! Close combat!"

"What are you guys doing?" Sakura asked from behind where Stella sat eyes glued to the screen.

"Oh, hey sis. We're just watching the recording of when Drew first joined the group and said girls couldn't fight."

Sakura gave Stella a hard look, "Alright, why are you showing this to regular school kids in the student lobby on our big screen TV?"

"Oh, they just think it's a movie or a video session from a VR arcade. They love it. You trounced Drew, literally made him eat his words…even if you did lose in the end."

Sakura scowled before plopping on the couch between Stella and the armrest.

"It was a draw, and Drew totally wouldn't have won if he didn't cheat using a. his nine stupid lives regeneration ability and b. he stole my projectiles! The nerve!" a smug smile crossed her face, "But not before I had beaten the kitty-cat within a millimeter of his ninth life. That kitty-cat was schooled. I can't wait for a rematch."

"Like you would win," Drew scoffed from behind the coach. The TV suddenly flickered off producing shouts of protest from the fana-err…students who had been following the match and oh so delicately commented on it (sample text first 15 lines of speech at the top of page).

Sakura, ignoring the ruckus, raised an eyebrow at Drew, "I thought we've already discussed this. I can do anything better then you can."

Drew shook his head at her apparent naïveté.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura," he admonished her lightly, "You didn't beat me within a mm of my life. It was an inch, 353 mm away from your above claim. And you failed to beat me. I still won."

"Oh, so you think you could win again Mr. I-can-heal-myself."

"Why yes I do, Miss I-have-unlimited ammo."

"It's not unlimited! I can just recall all used weaponry to my hand. It's a constant recycling of my weapons."

"Uh-huh, sure. That's why they all disappeared."

"You threw them in the digital sea! I can't use weapons that cease to exist!"

With each comment Stella's head pivoted from Sakura to Drew to Sakura back to Drew and finally to Sakura as she absorbed in the information. A light tap on her shoulder brought her nose to nose with a pair of black eyes. After restarting her heart, Stella eased herself off the couch, her spot being promptly taken by Drew as he and Sakura continued to nuke it out, and out of the room. She left the bickering couple behind as she shook her head in amusement at their antics with Dante silently shadowing her foot path.

A silly grin had spread across her features, but was abruptly shut off. Swinging around Stella gave Dante a thoughtful stare.

"Is there a reason for why you have been following me?" _for the past week?_

She didn't get an answer. She didn't expect one. All she received as a response was a cool black gaze that met her masked green. Dante swung his backpack off his back and extracted from the depths a book which he extended toward Stella.

Curious, Stella cautiously took the book and began an examination of it even as Dante turned and started to walk away. Brown eyes suddenly widened and a huge grin of the utmost estactic happiness appeared. A smile was forming on Dante's face as he counted down. 5…4…3…2…1…

"FRUITS BASKET 19!"

Running footsteps and a sudden weight hitting him around the middle of his back offset Dante's balance and sent him toppling to the ground, dragging with him the one who initiated the glomp (running hug).

"THANK YOU!" Stella beamed at Dante and hugged him one last time before running off down the hall with a direct course set for the library.

The smile still remained on Dante's face even after he had picked himself off the floor and was out in the school courtyards. The smile belonged to the family genus of _Maximus smirkus_ best described as the smile that appears when a person has done something well, and they know they've done well. Dante had just done very well, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that when Stella came across the sticky note five pages into the book that she would splutter, protest, and sulk; but he knew she would come.

She would answer the call. They all would.

-

3:00 pm at the factory

-

The five teens were gathered in various postures about the control room curiosity humming beneath the surface of the atmosphere. Curiosity as to why they were here. They most anyone had been able to drag out of Dante was that the reason for the meeting was for a retrieval of information. Nothing more was explained and nothing less.

Hallie and Sakura sat close together practically nose to nose, hip to hip, face to face. No wonder, Sakura was sitting on Hallie's beloved Furuba, and Hallie wanted it back.

The male members of the second generation of Lyoko warriors were wisely avoiding the battle of wills occurring between their female friends. They were instead clustered in a rough huddle talking calmly amongst themselves while not looking directly at their, ahem, mature, grown-up, level headed, composed teammates.

"Sakura give it back! Hiro-chan and Kisa-chan are so CUTE!" Hearts appeared in Hallie's eyes after her rather loud exclamation.

"I don't care how cute they are—" Sakura began.

Hallie cut her off by pointing her finger at Sakura's face, "They are extremely cute."

"I'm sure they are, but we are on a mission." Sakura retorted.

"Look, Saku-chan, sis. The guys are plotting against us while we fight off boredom. We aren't doing anything."

In response to Hallie's remark, Sakura peered intently at the huddle of those who were former frogs. The guys were acting suspiciously…

"Well enough conspiracy theories. I was reading, and no, it wasn't Furuba, it was a sci-fi book and they had the most descriptive sentence: _He pushed a button, sending the image to the printer. _He pushed a button. Wow, it's the theory of relativity being discovered."

Hallie then discovered Sakura's inattention.

"Note the sarcasm." She followed up.

Still not listening. Hallie began to wave her hands in front of Sakura's line of vision.

"Hel-lo, sis, are you with us?"

"What are they talking about?" Sakura asked barely registering on Hal's distractions or dialogue.

"They're probably talking about who's going to man the supercomputer," Hallie intoned morosely. "Drew, I or Dante can operate it, but…" Hallie winced and didn't continue.

A new feeling of curiosity diverted Sakura from her vigil of watching the huddle. She was now watching Hallie. But…but what?

"But, what?" she followed up.

A troubled look crossed Hallie's face as she began to speak.

"Well, when I told Dante about the new monster on Lyoko, and what I had discovered inadvertently about its powers, and how I had discovered what its powers were, he started acting strangely. He became very…quiet."

Hallie waved her arms slightly in a futile way trying to show she couldn't completely describe the feeling that overcame her when she gave the report. He had gone quiet, too quiet. Silent. Deathly still. Not an emotion crossed his face or betrayed his mind. It was inhuman. And that was what had disturbed her the most.

Though his face didn't betray his feelings, his actions soon did. Dante had become protective, to the supreme annoyance of Hallie. The actions he carried out were very subtle, hardly noticeable except for one who has been protected all there life. It was shown through a lingering presence, word of concern, a certain look that would appear when some males of the teenage years came to close for comfort. Subtle but very annoying.

"Dante's joined the OPS club." Hallie firmly stated.

"OPS club?" If possible a question mark would have appeared above Sakura's head then.

Hallie pasted on a chipper face and tone as she spoke, "The **O**peration: **P**rotect **S**tella club. Chief members being Riley and Sakura Stern."

"We aren't that bad anymore."

Hallie rolled her eyes muttering her disbelief.

"We aren't! And shouldn't it be Operation: Protect Halinor?"

"No, because OPH is so much fun to pronounce. Ophuh. Yes, very catchy."

"Ok, but what does OPS have to do with who's going to man the supercomputer."

Stella stretched a hand down her leg in a stretch.

"Because," she began in a slightly strained voice, "after my run-in with the leech, Dante has become my personal bodyguard. He won't trust anyone with my safety on Lyoko alone unless he is in the near vicinity."

"Why does he have to be in the vicinity?"

Hallie released her stretch and began it again on her other leg. "Because only Dante can influence/control XANA's monsters. If the leech's ability extends to everyone in the group then we're all helpless on Lyoko. It could be he would be able to neutralize the effect rendering it useless. So Dante won't be manning the computer on earth. He's going to be on Lyoko with me.

"Drew won't want to miss out on the fun on Lyoko. You want to beat Drew in a in a rematch on Lyoko to prove supremacy over the idiot for some reason. Plus, computers hate you, so you won't be manning the supercomputer. I refuse to be left out on the action and to be babied, so it'll be interesting to see who stays behind."

Hallie finished her long analysis of the situation and slumped against the wall. It was taking a long time for the guys to decide on a course of action. A sly gleam entered her eye. It was a gleam of mischief.

In the blink of an eye she was pouncing on Sakura looking to reclaim her beloved book, Furuba 19. She hit midair. Sakura was gone before the eye had even blinked dashing off with the priceless volume of Fruits Basket.

"Hey!" Hallie exclaimed, outraged, "Give me my book back!"

Sakura reached the elevator and punched the button. Hallie skidded to a halt in front of the closed doors briefly catching the last taunt Sakura threw.

"You have to catch me first!"

At the sudden movement and commotion the guys huddle had abruptly broken as they turned to watch the girls. Now Riley stepped forward to be the moderator.

"Stella," he began.

Hallie waved him off as she dashed to the rung ladder and began her descent into the bowels of the scanner room. She was out of sight before any of the guys could put another word in edgewise.

Riley rubbed the bridge of his nose. Turning back to the huddle his grey eyes locked with Dante's.

"If you'll virtualize them, I'll monitor the movements on Lyoko as needed."

Dante nodded and crossed to the supercomputer. Gingers flying over the keys he replied, "Done. Girls stop the cat fight and get in the scanners. Drew and I will join you on Lyoko presently."

Down in the scanner room Hallie and Sakura high-fived each other with Hallie's book carefully perched beside a scanner. The two teen girls waltzed into their scanners. A smile belonging to a certain genus of _Maximus _was plastered on their faces. It was the smile that belonged to those who know they've down extremely well. After all, the befuddlement and manipulation of male minds was the utmost achievement of females around the globe.

-

Yes, the Fruits Basket 19 is a bit premature. It won't be released until next month in March. Oh, next weekend I will be unable to post due to attending a church retreat Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. So, in two weeks you'll have the follow up chapter. On the plus side I have two more weeks to write and attempt to begin to wrap of this story.


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter 67:**

Hallie and Sakura dropped gracefully onto the desert floor. It was only after their dignified landing that they lost control of themselves. Sakura collapsed into giggles speaking freely without a thought to who might be monitoring the airwaves.

"The gullible twits! Well, we won't be left behind."

"You do realized we are most likely going to break into teams for whatever this retrieval mission is for," Hallie interjected.

Sakura shrugged nonplussed, "So?"

"So…" Hallie drawled before leaping onto a rather random topic of conversation.

"Is blue your favorite color?"

"No, it's purple."

"Is your name Sakura Stern? Don't give me that look. Answer me, yes or no?"

"Yes," Sakura said, bored already. A long suffering look appeared on her face.

"Are you a freshman at Kaddic High Academy?"

"Yes,"

"Is your favorite sport soccer?"

"Yes,"

"Do you save the world on a regular basis?"

"Yes,"

"Do you like Drew?"

"Ye-NO! No, no, no, no, no!"

It was too late. The damage had been done. Hallie had caught the beginning syllable coming out of Sakura's mouth. Green orbs grew wide as a look of pure delight and triumphant surfaced on Hallie's face.

"I knew it!" she crowed jumping up and down. "It makes sense. You always give trouble to the guys you really like."

A thundercloud had gathered on Sakura's face with flames welling to life in her eyes.

"I don't like him. Be quiet!"  
"You said you liked him."  
"You tricked me."

"So you do like him."

"No."

"No?"

"Yes."

"Yes? You do like him? I **knew** it!"

Exasperated Sakura clenched her mouth shut and refused to answer. It was a thoughtless answer that was immediately coming to haunt Sakura. Hallie had totally blown their conversation all out of proportion. The worst part was Hallie wouldn't, even admit it when she had totally misinterpreted the situation. She, Sakura, liking Drew? Impossible. 

"Aw," Hallie cooed, a look of admiring something of the utmost cuteness appeared in her eyes, "You have roses blooming in your cheeks," here friendly banter creeped into her voice, "I didn't know you could get those on Lyoko."

Perforced patience was thrown out the window; Sakura snapped. Hallie was treading on treacherous ground here.

"Will you quit it? I don't like him, o.k.?!"

"Like who?" inquired a masculine voice.

Sakura froze, all confidence slipping away. She was reverting to weak kitten mode. Also known as the self-induced self-conscious, helpless Sakura reverts to when under supreme emotional duress. The other alternative to weak kitten mode would be black cat mode where Hell hath no fury like that of Sakura Stern (that or she could utilize her self control). But she wasn't in black cat mode; she was in weak kitten mode.

_Oh no,_ Sakura thought at her body's betrayal. _Don't tell me anyone overheard that._

Hallie waved cheerily at the two guys behind Sakura.

"Hi Dante! Hi Drew!"

_Our Father, who art in heaven, kill me now. Please kill me now._

"So-o," Hallie drawled scuffing her shoes against the desert floor, "Are we splitting into teams?"

Drew barely had the yes out of his mouth before Hallie acted.

"I call Dante!" she shouted while she ran over to Dante, grabbed his hand, and dragged him away from Drew and the shell shocked Sakura.

_Kill me now._

:-D

Once a safe distance away from Drew and Sakura, Hallie stopped and grinned with pleasure at the sight of the two of them. It looked like Drew was getting Sakura to loosen up (most likely throwing his ego by telling Sakura funny stories about idiotic things, that he had done). Hallie could hear Sakura's laugh from across the mesa. Hallie grinned like the idiot she was. The Cheshire cat couldn't have taught her better.

Dante followed her gaze, locked on the other pair, and took in her expression.

"What are you scheming," he asked pointblank.

"Nothing," Hallie sang in a sing song voice that said anything but.

"You're matchmaking," he deduced.

"Maybe," again with the sing song voice.

"Between Drew and Sakura."

"Yep."

Dante looked at her. He just looked at her with that infuriatingly patronizing look of the "mature" that inhabit the earth. "you do realize your stunt would have caused the to of them to be uninformed on our game plan which would necessitate the interference in the environment you've created.

The look of horror on Hallie's face at the realization of how quickly her plans were going to fall through prompted Dante add to his statement. "Fortunately all the technicalities were negotiated prior to our virtualization onto Lyoko."

Dante ignored the muttered _so that's what was taking so long_ from Hallie to focus on a somewhat more relevant topic.

"Even though you sound happy beyond all reason please release my hand from its captivity."

Bumfuzzled Hallie gazed down at the sight of their entwined hands, shocked they were so. When had that happened? Oh yeah…

"Sorry," she said as she pulled her hand back or really, she tried to. It didn't budge. Hallie looked at Dante then with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not me." He replied to her nonverbal question.

Hallie tugged again at their glued hands. Then she yanked and strained. Her hand remained fused to Dante's.

"Great, any ideas?"

Dante shook his head, "Not to a solution, but to a hypothesis of why."

"OK then, why?"

"We are opposites. I'm XANA's child. My powers are those I've inherited directly from him. You are the granddaughter of Franz Hopper, daughter of Aelita Hopper and Jeremy Belpois. All of Hopper ancestry hold their own keys to Lyoko. Another way to look at it would be to say that if you are positive energy, and I am negative energy then we-"

"-attract. Opposites attract," Hallie finished for him as the whys in this situation became clear, "Oh joy. What if we did an energy pulse? Maybe it would repel us."

Dante looked at her thoughtfully then nodded. Excitement dancing in her eyes Hallie started the count off.

"On three. One, two, three!"

Hallie and Dante sprang apart. Dante's momentum set him back a mere inch hand upraised and flat still holding the position prior to the energy pulse. Hallie on the other hand was flying.

It had probably not been the best idea to drag Dante so close to the edge of the sector in an attempt to leave Drew and Sakura alone. It had also not been the most ideal nor best decision to get really excited before the energy pulse and letting it get out of hand. Who knew Dante was perfectly capable of reflecting the transfer of energy right back to Hallie? Hallie hadn't, obviously, or she wouldn't have put enough umph into the energy pulse to try to devirtualize her well intentioned OPS bodyguard. That would give explain quite readily why Hallie was plummeting over the edge of the desert sector on a one way course to the digital sea a.k.a. her doom. 

An explosion of pure unaltered, uninterpreted emotion rushed through Hallie then as she realized during the first initial split seconds of her downward spiral where she was headed.

_NO!_

Then Hallie unexpectedly slammed into a very solid, very substantial force. The shock wave of paralyzing agony had barely registered in her mind before she fell limply to a ground she was certain didn't exist.

"Hallie!" a voice cried from above. Muzzily, Hallie managed to shakily lift her hand up to deliver a shaky thumb ups toward the direction she thought the voice had come from while maintaining her face plant.

"I'm…A-OKAY…I think," Hallie turned her head and looked at what had broken her fall. "Of all the places for a boulder to be…OW!"

During Hallie's brave attempt to reaffirm her excellent status of health, Dante had landed gracefully on the lone island of a desert platform where Hallie had, err…, landed. His helping her sit up caused the above exclamation of pain.

"Does anything hurt?" he quizzed.

"Everything hurts," Hallie replied bitterly throwing him a dirty look. She gripped her head between her hands, "It even hurts too think. It feels like a monkey on the biggest sugar/caffeine high of its life took a sledge hammer and is happily smashing the inside of my brain to bits."

"Riley?" Dante asked the all seeing monitor of the supercomputer.

"She's down to 40 life points. She lost the majority of them in that grand slam."

Oblivious to the dialog occurring between Dante and Riley, Hallie continued her minor pity party of pain.

"Why am I even in pain? This is Lyoko. We only have two senses!"

"Dante," Riley said in a low voice. Hallie still had her head in her hands trying to withstand the throb in her virtual temples.

"I saw it," Dante replied, "what is the status with Drew and Sakura?"

"The lift just dropped them off in Sector 5. They're in route to the first data outlet. Should I summon the transport orb?"

"No need," Dante replied with a far off look in his suddenly crimson eyes. Far off on the desert horizon a glint of white sped across the sea of yellow sky. In the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Hallie attempting to stand. She made it onto her feet well enough, but if the swaying was any indication her balance wasn't completely in control.

Control, the word was one to ponder over. It was a verb and the definition was: to have the authority or ability to regulate, direct or dominate a situation. For Dante when he put the word control in the same sentence with Hallie it usually made this sentence: How much control does Hallie have over her use of energy abilities?

There was a valid reason why Hallie used the energy spheres. The spheres were a hollow construct of energy that formed an impenetrable force field with the duration and strength all dependent ultimately on her focus and control of mind at the time and duration of the energy construction. Hallie's preferred use of her energy abilities were the hollow constructs due to her superior ability to control them.

But solid energy forms…Hallie had less control and much refinement was needed in that area of her expertise. Most situations were she used a pure energy form for offensive uses tended to end as the energy pulse had ended. The construction collapsed or exploded increasing the risk of Hallie inadvertently harming herself.

Dante continued in his reflection even as the transport Orb engulfed the two and spirited them away from that desolate castaway island of rock. That island was a true odd ball. It wasn't linked to the tower network by the grey cables strung across all the regions. Part of the reason would that the cable would have to be the length of an extension cable to reach that rocky isle, the miniature platform was three quarters of the way above the digital sea but below the regular desert platforms.

Another good reason besides the considerable distance for why the island wasn't attached to the tower network was because it had never been a part of the network before, ever. Maybe that was due to the fact it had never existed before Hallie had been sent into orbit by her own excitable tendencies. This led Dante to the final conclusion that while Hallie lacked control in her offensive energy capabilities she sure made up for it with her defensive abilities. She was definitely her mother's daughter.


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter 68:**

With Drew and Sakura

It was a bit of a mystery to Riley how Drew and Sakura were actually collaborating. Gone was the harmless banter of before. Now the avid debate over who would outlast whom in a fight was back. Peace between those two never lasted, Riley noted ruefully.

The alteration between the two almost had Riley doubt Sakura's earlier coerced proclamation of infatuation with his friend. Just another sign of truly how confusing the female race was. Riley didn't know if he should be pleased Sakura had, sort of, owned up to her crush or be annoyed. Pleased because Sakura was finally admitting it or annoyed that she like his friend. It was just his fortune that his sister was so fickle.

Right now they were arguing about which special ability was better, regeneration or summoning weapons. At this rate they would be debating colors, and only Riley could intervene as the mediator. Not that he was planning to.

"Look, Sakura, no matter how nifty it is to never run out of things to throw at and stab people all the weapons in the world won't help you if you're devirtualized."

"Oh really, well Mr. I can-heal-myself. Regeneration is only truly useful if it isn't so self-centered. If you could heal others that would be something else entirely."

"Are you implying something?"

"What could I possibly be implying?"

A complacent smile was working its way onto Drew's face, "You need life points."

"I am perfectly capable of surviving on the remaining life points I have without needing a staple you can produce."

The only thing that impressed Riley more then his best friend and sister's ability to constantly bicker over some matter no matter how trivial was the ability of the two being able to bicker over said trivial subject no matter what situation they found themselves in. Current example: yelling across a room on two different platforms as a horde of crawlers and other adversaries rained laser fire down on the two.

Well at Sakura and Drew were persistent.

Drew ducked as an incoming dagger nearly took his head off. Behind him he heard a muted roar of a crawler cut off as it melted into a puddle of goo. Drew frowned. While healing himself was a wonderfully useful talent, he tried not to rely solely on that ability to keep himself alive. Speed or agility in this case, along with his highly tuned evasion abilities kept him a moving target (ironically he learned all these traits by interacting with Sakura on a daily basis).

Drew launched off his platform towards a platform closer in height to Sakura's. Sakura's platform was a top a tall isolated block near the rafters of the room. Drew was followed quite doggedly by tiny brown, fist sized monsters of XANA he had never seen before.

The monsters roughly resembled a frog and had a XANA symbol on the middle of their backs, an incredibly hard target to hit with laser arrows or wolverine claws. The monstrosities also had a powerful set of hind legs for jumping incredible distances at fast speeds. It all was a bitter reminder to Drew's short interlude as a frog.

So far in order to preserve his life points Drew had been forced quite literally into taking evasive actions. The peeps, so named by the peep made after each laser bolt was fired, were on his tail like white on rice. Everywhere he jumped they jumped. However fast he went they went just as fast. It was a full time job keeping those little nasties from blasting 10 life points out of his hide with each laser bolt that connected with his hide while simultaneously dodging crawler laser fire.

A shower of metal needles punctured three out of the five peeps on his trail. Drew fervently thanked the God in heaven for Sakura. God bless her soul. Even fighting off four crawlers she was still able to lend in a helpful barrage of weapons to save Drew's skin, not that he couldn't save his own skin, he just appreciated the gesture. He would gladly return the favor as soon as the tiny brown wonders were off his tail.

Drew rebounded off a platform and shot straight toward the little buggers flying straight toward him. Unsheathing his claws, Drew flew past the tow peeps ripping through their mechanical bodies. The little frogs let out one last peep! Before exploding. Drew spared himself a happy thought as a pat on the back before he started climbing his way up to where Sakura stood surrounded.

Sakura was weaving an intricate dance to avoid each crawler's 40 LP laser beams. She'd already been hit twice to her chagrin and was determined not to repeat the experience. In one hand a fan had taken permanent possession of the solitary limb. The fan was unfurled and unhesitantly used to block any laser bolts coming straight for her or to swipe at any crawler that dared to come near.

Her other hand cycled through daggers, morning starts, kunais, and various other weapons at her disposal. Currently Sakura was holding two fans one to fly on the offense and the other being used strictly in defensive a manner.

She spun twirling from spot to spot dodging the lasers, coming and going with the only evidence of her passage being a nonexistent air current and the exploding monsters she left behind. And then she halted.

A flying object caused Drew to shy away in his current leap up to Rapunzel's tower. Crouching on a ledge, Drew frowned before leaping away as another falling object embedded itself into the ledge. The dagger quivered emitting a light hum, but it did not disappear. Drew stared transfixed before dodging another falling dagger. He cast a bewildered look up toward the platform. What was going on?

(-:-)

Somehow, Hallie doubted that the day would come when there wouldn't be a need for the group to foray Sector 5. Would the day come that there would no longer be any need for Lyoko? That this would all end?

Her practical side had two answers. The practical positive answer: not for many more XANA attacks to come until the group started looking for a way to permanently destroy XANA and not just counteract his attacks. Her realistically cynical side: yes, the end is near if XANA gets his way. The thought caused Hallie to shiver and become more aware of her surroundings.

The spherical platform the transport orb had deposited the two on was playing the wheel of fortune game. Round and round it goes. Where it stops nobody knows. As the platform settled the wall opened section by section in its characteristically rapid unveilment. A firm grip on Hallie's wrist prevented her from beginning a sprint down the sector. The grip belonged to a hand. The hand belonged to her bodyguard. Her overprotective bodyguard was called Dante.

Hallie curiously peered at Dante. Did he want them to have a re-enactment of the occurrence in the Desert Sector (granted Hallie would smack into a wall instead of a boulder if that was the case). Dante dropped his hand once his task of capturing Hallie's attention was complete.

"We are on a retrieval of information expedition not a play or exploration run. Drew and Sakura are en-route to the first data outlet the one located on the exterior of Sector 5 We are going into the bowels of Sector 5 where the second one is. You know the place; it's the room of the search engine."

Hallie's eyes lit up.

"We're going to the map room?" she asked eagerly. Dante solemnly nodded.

"Awesome! Let's go!" Hallie cried starting to dash off only to be stopped again by another hand on her wrist.

"Dantes!" she complained wrenching her wrist out of his grip, "Let's get this show on the road! The weekend is here, and I get to see my parents this weekend! The sooner we finish this the sooner I get to see them."

Then a startling flash of red and white blinded her vision suddenly. Hallie's hands flew to her eyes as she began some serious rubbing to clear her starry vision. By the time all the twinkling little stars and sugarplums were gone from her vision Hallie looked to see Dante halfway across the room. He turned and black eyes met Hallie's slightly dazzled green eyes.

"Are you coming?"

Bewildered Hallie nodded and sprinted across the distance separation the two. With her at his side Dante resumed leading the way to the second data outlet. Hallie trailed behind him perplexed.

_What was that?_

(-:-)

She couldn't see anything. She couldn't hear anything. But from what Sakura could tell in her blind and deaf state was that there was something on her face, and it wouldn't come off. She couldn't breath.

(-:-)

"Drew get up there!" Riley barked over the microphone as he monitored Drew and Sakura's progress side by side with Dante and Hallie's. On screen a window had popped up with a figure of Sakura flashing between red and grey.

"I'm going, I'm going," Drew called while scaling the finally length of the wall. Hazel eyes peered over the edge of the platform immediately spotting the back of silver crawler tails.

The crawler heads were moving side to side as they crooned long groans while watching the female Lyoko Warrior struggled against her bonds. One crawler swung its head from the left to the right exchanging a rumbling communication with its neighbor before swinging its head back to the neighbor on his left. It did not find the companion that had formerly been standing to its left.

A bellow of alarm came from it as it swung back to the right to immediately warn its other companion. It was only able to catch its companion melting into a puddle of goo before raking metal claws filled its view screen.

Satisfied with the lack of threats from the immediate predators Drew turned his attention to Sakura. If he was the type of guy to cuss and take the Lord's name in vain he would have done so then. Instead he uttered, "Pickles." with as much shock and astonishment that would come.

A cloudy grey sphere had engulfed Sakura's head from the neck up.

"What is that?" Drew asked.

"I'm dubbing it a Dementor," Riley spoke over the speakers.

Drew snapped his hand back as the surface of the sphere warped and shot out an appendage toward Drew.

"I'm going to regret asking this, buy why a dementor?" Drew followed up. The cloudy surface gleamed at him causing Drew to narrow his eyes.

"It's giving her the kiss of death. She's losing life points, fast."

Drew acted in an instant. Before the eye could blink he had pulled Sakura away from where she stood teetering on the edge of the platform. Drew caught for the briefest instant an angry set of red XANA eyes appeared on the top of the cloudy formation of the bubble before the surface settled again.

Clasping her hand in his, Drew's hands began to glow yellow as he started passing on some of his nine lives to Sakura. On screen the steady decline of Sakura's LP halted began a gradual increase until a stalemate was found at half of her LP. The LP didn't recede nor did they increase though Drew knew with the utmost certainty that if he stopped pumping in the life points she would start her downward spiral until she was devirtualized.

He needed help, now. He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, and a monster of XANA was on Sakura's head. If it was anything like the scyphozoa then it should be removed ASAP. For that he needed an exceptional Lyoko warrior who wasn't afraid of XANA or his agents of darkness. In fact he needed a former agent of darkness himself. Like calls to like. He needed Dante.

Apart regeneration and unlimited ammunition are extremely effective talents. Combined the two are formidable, but sometimes even the great need help from the outside.


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter 69:**

"Dante, we're going to have to cancel the information run." Riley's voice echoed throughout the hall.

"Why are we stopping?" Hallie asked as Dante raised his hand to signal the halt. Brushing off the question, Dante walked away from the room he was about to enter and down the hall toward where the two had entered the sector. Hallie stood peering at him with curiosity slightly inside the door way to the room.

"What's up?" Dante asked Riley.

Up on earth Riley's face was drawn and grim.

"XANA's been one step ahead of us since we set foot in Sector 5. There's an unknown monster covering Sakura's head and draining her life points."

Hallie snapped to attention at the part covering Sakura's head and was now shooting Dante anxious looks.

"We're on our way," Dante replied and started walking back to rejoin Hallie.

Up on earth Riley yanked the earphone off his ear as a startled shriek tore into his eardrums. Left ear still ringing, he quickly rehooked on the ear piece while studying the screens of Sector 5. This excursion was just getting worse and worse.

"What happened?"

On screen Sakura was still stable at half and half with Drew. All unchanged there, but with Dante and Hallie…

"There's a wall…"

As Dante had been walking over to Hallie, a wall had erupted out of the floor and accelerated to the ceiling blocking off the hall from the room. Hallie had flinched away from the rapidly growing wall, lost her sense of balance, and fell backwards onto the floor. With an ominous thud the wall hit the ceiling and silence reigned in her half of the block off.

"Dante?" she called uncertainly as her voice echoed through the room.

"_Yeah, I'm here_," crackled a radio like voice from beside Hallie. The voice sounded a lot like Dante. Hallie was on her feet and looking for the owner of the voice only to be greeted by an empty room.

"Where are you?"

"_Wait a sec_," the voice said still crackling, "All right, that's better. Are you okay?"

Hallie could distinctly hear Dante's voice beside her which caused her to do another 360 degree scan of the room. No one, no Dante, and yet his voice was so clear it was as if Dante was right beside her. Perplexed Hallie did not speak.

"I'll assume you're okay," came Dante's voice from beside her, again.

"What's going on? Why can I hear you when you're not here?" Hallie asked.

Movement caught her eye. By her feet the wire frame for the black overboard appeared and then solidified. On the other side of the wall in the hallway Dante rested his hand on the wall and spoke.

"Get on. I'm stuck on the other side of this block off, and Sakura needs help. I'll explain on route."

Hallie hesitated briefly, uncertain.

"Hal," growled Dante's voice with a hint of exasperation, "get on. There isn't time."

Hallie gulped and jumped on the overboard promptly zooming across the room toward Drew and Sakura's location. The hum of the overboard was low and consistent ringing in Hallie's ears, but not drowning Dante's voice out as he finally explained the mystery of his displaced voice.

"Alright, I didn't want you to go on this retrieval of information."

Hallie snorted, "What else is new?"

"So, I took some safety precautions especially after that little topple you took in the Desert Sector. Look at you wrist."

Hallie immediately looked at her right wrist.

"The other wrist,"

Ah and there it was. A white armband was being sported on Hallie's left wrist. It was pure white all around except for a red circle the size of a quarter.

"When did that get there?" Hallie asked returning her eyes to the road. She exited into a hallway zipping by at such a high speed that the blue columns lining the walls were a steady and consistent blur.

"When we entered Sector 5."

The memory of the flash of blinding red and white light came to mind. _So that's what that was._

"So, is this just some nifty radio?" Hallie asked.

Dante opened his eyes and replied, "No," as he walked with the grace of ancients across the deep blue center of the circular platform where the transport orb had dropped the two off.

"It's a tracker and a last line if defense. The red circle, press it if you find yourself in a situation you can't handle. It's a one time use though."

"Alright," came Hallie's voice tickling the inside of his ear. There was a pause and than a quiet, "thank you." Dante smiled immediately soaring to Cloud 9.

The primary route to Drew and Sakura's position was cut off, but not all the routes. Not the less known and traveled paths. Such paths were unknown to the Lyoko Warriors, but not so for Dante. Before he had met Hallie and left his father, Dante had roamed Sector 5 watching the world above unseen and unnoticed. Those paths had long been left unvisited ever since Dante broke away and came to Earth, but now was the time to visit those paths again even if his father lurked those halls he would now take.

Dante stopped in the middle of the white XANA symbol, the eye or heart of the symbol. Dante closed his eyes and sent out a silent command taught to him by XANA when he was first introduced to the desolate Lyoko all those many years ago. _Crossover_

A silent shockwave swept over Lyoko felt by few. The Heart of Lyoko shrieked sending Hallie toppling off the black overboard and skidding across the floor. Sakura in her bubble heard a dark foreign voice in her ear. **He's returned.**

Dante opened his eyes and was greeted with blood red walls. Beneath his feet was a black XANA sign. He could remember poignantly his first cross over from XANA's Lyoko to Franz Hopper's original Lyoko. The shock to his young self of the cool colors and brightness lasted even to this current day where a sense of awe appeared. This bloody Hyde version of Lyoko had once been his home, his kingdom. And his kingdom recognized its heir.

(-:-)

Hallie hurriedly picked herself off the ground and remounted the overboard. Zooming on Hallie crossed the remaining distance until she was in the room Sakura and Drew were located in. Climbing in elevation Hallie flipped off the board beside Drew and Sakura. The first thing that struck her was the milky grey bubble's identity.

"It's a parasite," she uttered a look of disgust in her eye as she eyed the newest plague of XANA.

Drew looked up at Hallie and kept looking. "Where's Dante?"

"We were separated," Hallie said calmly as she approached Sakura. The surface of the bubble rippled.

"We need Dante," Dante replied. He started as Hallie dropped to her knees beside Sakura. "Hey that thing will take your head over!"

Hallie looked over and fastened Drew with a look. She silenced him with a look.

"No, it won't," she replied softly before extending her hands to touch the bubble.

That look. Drew had seen that look before. There was that spark in her eye; the same spark she had when she brought the ceiling down on the clone-able crawler. Now a white glow surrounded her hands, and Hallie reached out and touched the surface of the bubble.

The bubble stuck to Hallie's hands like glue. The white glow spread from Hallie's hands to the bubble until a tendril of the bubble's substance peeled back like a broken guitar string. More followed in a rapid unpeeling until Sakura's head and the parasite were no longer touching.

Sakura opened her eyes and blinked uncertainly up at Drew and Hallie.

"It's gone," she said in wonderment before the pixels of her Lyoko form separated and her wire frame vanished. Hallie removed her hand from where Sakura had sat, the glow beginning to fade.

"You," she said turning her attention to the dementor, "are going bye bye."

A light pink electrical filed surrounded the curling form of the parasite as it curled in on itself hissing untranslatable anger. Hallie tipped her hand and the pink sphere slid off her hand and on to the ground. A square hole opened in the blue floor becoming the sphere's new home and closed with a quick wire outline of a lid until the floor was unmarred hiding the dementor beneath it in its prison.

Satisfied with the parasites imprisonment Hallie turned to Drew and sighed. "I guess we have to go home now," she said with a trace of melancholy.

"No," Drew interjected, "We still have a mission to carry out, and no monster of XANA is going to stop us."

For that Hallie had no comeback, and she reluctantly boarded the black overboard behind Drew as they resumed their mission to the first data outlet.

(-:-)

The red halls were surprisingly empty Dante noted with interest. The wall blocking the passage was gone when he reached the appropriate spot. This world was a mirror reflection of Lyoko, the photonegative version of it in a sense. The only difference between this world and the other one was the Sector 5 Hallie and Drew were in reflected mirror images or shadows onto the Sector 5 where Dante was currently walking through. If say Drew had been in the corresponding room Dante was currently in on the Blue side of the line, a holographic image of Drew and all his actions would be played out on the Red Sector 5. Even far ahead of him Dante could hear echoing voices of Hallie's and Drew's shadows in this world. The negative version of this sector mirrored the positive side of it.

(-:-)

Hallie clutched the black overboard protectively under her arm as she and Drew rode the lift. Inwardly she was trying to placate the Heart of Lyoko.

_Calm down._

**"**_He crossed over!__**"**_

_Who crossed over?_

**"**_This is bad. This is very bad. This is very, very bad.__**"**_

_Calm down!_

**"**_I'm going to kill him!__**"**_

_And you're supposed to be the voice of reason and purity for Lyoko…Hello? She hung up on me._

The lift grinded to a halt in front of a passage which led to the exterior ledge where the first data outlet for Sector 5 was. It was also the same data outlet that her parents went to for information way back when they were the Lyoko Warriors saving the world on a regular basis.

_And now it's us._ Hallie conclude in thought as the data screen appeared, and she watched Drew begin the shifting of files looking for a reference to their new menaces on Lyoko: The peeps, the dementor, and the siren like leech that had attacked her previously on Lyoko.

(-:-)

Groaning Sakura appeared crumpled at the bottom of the scanner. In a slight panic her hands flew to her face as her breathing increased while she desperately searched for the thing that had been smothering her on Lyoko. A hand on her shoulder and a looming figure with a paper bag spoke to her hyperventilating form. Sakura vaguely registered her brother's identity as he sat her up and had her breathing into the paper bag while calming her down.

Wordlessly Riley stood and made for the elevator only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned and caught the briefest glimpse of the tear filled brown eyes of his sister before she was desperately clinging to him crying.

Riley stiffened at a momentary loss of what to do with the crying female who was his sister that was hugging him. Hesitantly he hugged her back and kept hugging her until she pulled away hiccupping violently while mumbling apologies. A soft look in his eyes, he turned away and made for the elevator followed by Sakura. Discreetly he wiped his own moist face.

In the control room both Stern children were all business monitoring the inflow of information carefully storing it in the secure side of the supercomputer for later analysis.

"Everything's coming in clean as a whistle on this side," Riley said. "How's it on your side?"

-

In Sector 5

-

"…how's it on your side?"

Hallie was the one who replied. Drew was too engrossed in his search to speak.

"Everything's calm and quiet. _Too_ quiet."

A muffled voice in the background was heard before Riley spoke.

"Sakura says stop being paranoid." He relayed.

Hallie laughed.

**Sticky Note 3-15-08:**

Happy Spring Break! Daylight savings time, spring break and Easter came early this year. It's weird. Well, down here in the lone star state we pushed 90 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, and I'm going to the beach Monday through Thursday. Hope I don't get sunburned!

Anyhoo, I heart moon eclipses shadows. She reviewed last chapter (blows noises makers and whistles while throwing confetti). See ya next week!


	70. Chapter 70

Chapter 70

**Chapter 70**

"…_how's it on your side?"_

_Hallie was the one who replied. Drew was too engrossed in his search to speak._

"_Everything's calm and quiet. __**Too**__ quiet."_

_A muffled voice in the background was heard before Riley spoke._

"_Sakura says stop being paranoid." He relayed._

_Hallie laughed._

* * *

In the negative version of Sector 5 Dante paused momentarily as he felt four monsters depart from the negative sector to the positive sector. Dante picked up the pace through the winding corridors. He wouldn't be in here too much longer.

Down in the depths of the sector the Heart was silent. This was slightly worrying but a relief from the shrieks that had been accosting Dante's ears since he crossed over. Pausing momentarily he reached out and touched the wall.

"I'll be returning very soon." Dante said matter of factly.

A feeling of sullen silencestarting at his fingers washed over him before an angry voice pierced his thoughts. "**He** thinks you've returned to **him.** Get out before I kick you out!"

Dante bowed releasing his touch on the wall. "As you wish."

-0-

Hallie hissed in anger as her sphere missed. The two flying mantas twirled gracefully in the air before swooping down with another round of laser fire. They were taunting her.

Her sphere would soar gracefully on target ready to trap the unsuspecting flying mantas, and then they would flip out of range forcing Hallie to dissolve her sphere and drop her concentration before the sphere soared straight into the data block walls of Sector 5.

"Can I please go after them on the overboard?" she begged Drew.

Drew dodged a shower of laser fire. "If you don't kill yourself and can get those guys off my tail then go ahead."

With a happy gleam in her eye Hallie was on the board and blasting off into space._Revenge!_

Dante watched the holographic map in the map room with interest. On the map a small figure on a black overboard was chasing down two flying mantas as another small figure was at work on a ledge where the data outlet was. Watching from this third view perspective made the whole thing seem surreal.

There's the wind up and the pitch! The crowds in the stadiums of Hallie's imagination roared as her energy sphere trapped the flying manta inside its spherical prison. The cheering turned to blatant boos as the flying manta continued to fly while still trapped in its hamster ball.

_Drat! It was supposed to shoot the walls and destroy itself. These mantas are smart._ Hallie mused. In a split second she had made up her mind. _New plan._

The manta soared free as its spherical energy prison disappeared. Hallie circled around, a small frown line knit bet between her eyes as in her hand pink sparks began to dance.

_Here goes something._

"Energy field!" Hallie shouted feeling slightly stupid. Why exactly did the Lyoko warriors shout their attacks? Why do they even name them? It's not like the monsters are going to hear the name of the attack and turn tail and run the other way or cower frozen in fear. A mystery.

Another sphere of energy was hurled at the XANA's eye of the flying manta. Upon hitting the eye, the manta was momentarily caught in a field of flying sparks before BOOM! It was gone. The stadium filled with people cheered in mass approval.

_Now where is that second manta?_ Hallie wondered. An echoing cry caught her attention. _There you are._

Before Hallie could maneuver to energy field the manta out of the sky, movement in the corner of her eye snapped Hallie's attention to the left. Wheeling around Hallie came face to face with a different manta and its unexpected passenger. Then she was dropping like a stone through the air for the second time that day.

-0-

Dante narrowed his eyes at the holographic projection the map before him. With a wave of his hand, Dante influenced Hallies's former prey. He then stood and exited the map room. It was time to leave this morphodite world.

-0-

Lasers had flashed from the manta's mouth destroying the overboard before Hallie felt the artificial gravity's jealous grip on her. Riley's voice had shattered her panic over her freefall.

"Hallie turn your body so you're in a sky divers "x" position with your belly toward the bottom of the sphere."

_He's not calling my Stella,_ procured Hallie's random panic induced thoughts, _weird._

A new voice came over the speakers. 

"Hallie, do it! Do a 180! Flip over," there was a pause before what Hallie thought was Sakura's voice came again as a fearsome growl, "Now."

"Yeah it's so easy to flip over in mid-air without any leverage!" Hallie retorted as her mind raced.

O.K. science. _Think Biology or Chemistry or would it be physics? Scratch that, Biology is my current science class. Umm…Everything that can go wrong will go wrong? __No__, that already happened. Umm…something, something, opposite reaction. _Bing! _For every reaction there's an equal and opposite reaction. Success! ... How does that help me?_

With a bit of ingenuity and propulsion via shots of energy emission Hallie was falling face down and once again fighting off panic.

_Don't scream. Don't scream. Be quiet. Do you really want to go down screaming? I never realized before the word die is in diet. Who's supposed to die, T?_

Hallie then caught a glimpse of black, white and grey.

-0-

Sakura watched with clenched fists beside Riley as the two monitored Hallie's fall and the flight path of a certain flying manta.

-0-

Soft, cool, white skin met Hallie's outstretched fingers as Hallie touched down rather rapidly onto the diving flying manta. With a bump Hallie landed and steadied her balance before pulling herself into a sitting position. _Why?_ She thought slightly perplexed before she noticed a dark aura around the manta. Normally, this would have alarmed her, but this time there was something familiar about this aura.

As the manta pulled out of its steep dive and circled around Sector 5, the answer came to Hallie.

"Dante," she whispered.

The manta dipped slightly in its flight pattern crooning out a soft note. Hallie smiled gently while lightly patting its back. She liked this flying manta much better then she had before. She like it a whole like better then the other manta flying in the airspace of Sector 5, the one that shot her down. The manta with a tarantula as its passenger.

The echoing sound of laser fire reverberated throughout the outside of the spherical Sector. A dip in the ride and Hallie spoke softly to the manta.

"I need to be able to view the data outlet port,"

Another soft call came from the manta as it wheeled through the air back toward the past view of the desired sight. The red flash of laser fire greeted Hallie's sight.

"Oh my," she murmured. _At every turn we face opposition._

"Hallie," came Riley's voice.

"Yeah?"

"Drew needs help fending of the tarantula. He can't let the link terminate or the download will terminate. We need this information. The link and the download will terminate if he goes off and fights."

"Riley, I have 40 LP left. I don't think I'll be able to take that thing and its passenger on, not both of them."

"We don't need a victory. We just need time."

Hallie's answer came without another thought. "Done."

Then with a whisper audible to no one else but the manta, Hallie was off wheeling toward the battle on the back of the influenced flying manta.

-0-

Drew grimaced as he narrowly dodged another laser bolt from the tarantula's bombardment. There was a pattern.

The manta would swoop away after the round of laser bombardment had completed, pulling into a minor orbit away from the data outlet until it would come around to bring the tarantula in for a close shot. This time it never got the chance.

The manta bucked unexpectedly upsetting the tarantula's firing pattern and throwing off all the lasers entirely. The laser hit the blue tiles of the sphere center of Lyoko yards off from their target, Drew.

The cause of the bucking?

An invisible force was shooting laser bolts at the manta. If he squinted, Drew could see a distortion in the air space flying around the enemy manta and its tarantula passenger.

Breathing a sigh of relief at the diversion on the manta's laser fire, Drew checked the download. 30 complete. This down load was slower then a traffic jam. Drew turned his attention back to the invisible ally vs. the manta and tarantula combo.

The tarantula seemed to also be picking up on the distortion of light around the edges of the figure. That or the constant shooting on the manta which it was riding caused the tarantula to take an educated guess on its opponent's flight pattern.

Then the tarantula did a very untarantula like thing, an action Drew had never seen a tarantula enact before. The tarantula brought both of its arms together locking them together side by side at the elbows. Then from the elbows down the circuitry of the arms rearranged and fused it together to form what looked suspiciously like a giant cannon.

At the end of the cannon Drew could see a red glow forming until pulsing halos looking suspiciously like red XANA's eyes surrounded a swelling red sphere. XANA's minions had upgrades.

_Uh-oh._

Sticky Note 3-21-08:

I'm back from the beach and without a sunburn. Huzzah! Today felt suspiciously like a Saturday. Maybe that explains how I was finally able to post on a Friday for once instead of a Saturday. Spring Break is almost over. NO! Come back! I won't miss it. I won't have to share a bed with my mom and eight year old sister for a long, long time, hopefully. That was a nightmare. 

For the record I am a girl. It's perfectly alright for me to share a king sized bed in a hotel room on the beach with my annoying munchkin of a sister and my mother. Annoying, but…I think the word I'm looking for is appropriate, but let me know if you have a better word then 'appropriate' or 'alright'. Anyhoo, REVIEW! PLEASE!


	71. Chapter 71

Chapter 71:

**Chapter 71:**

The invisible force wheeled away from the on edge tarantula & co. heading for the ledge. The invisible force shimmered into view as the laser blast tore through the manta ripping it to shreds causing a minor explosion in mid air. A flying object of pink and blue colors soared past Drew and went skidding on their back down the hall.

Head spinning Hallie pushed herself up on her elbows and crowed triumphantly, "You missed!"

The manta swooped in closer to the data outlet as the tarantula realigned its shot and fixed a bead on one of the two Lyoko warriors. As the second charged blast Drew chanced a glance at the down load's progress. 40 percent complete. This thing was slower then Christmas. He was still tied up.

With stony faced valor Drew stared down the tarantula as the charge reached its peak. If he couldn't go down fighting then he could go down with dignity. The tarantula released its charge, and immediately, its cannon construction deconstructed to its former fire arms.

Hallie looked up to see a massive laser bullet rocketing toward Drew and her. Her next action was pure instinct. She was on her feet and closing the distance between herself and Drew while raising her arms.

The laser blast slammed into a pink energy force field that had suddenly surrounded the entire ledge where the first data outlet was located. The end of the force field's radius touched the doorway leading into the interior of Sector 5.

On the supercomputer screen the appearance of the spherical force field provided a sigh of relief from the Stern children. Along with the appearance of the force field a small note was taken by the male Stern child that Hallie was outside the force field.

Sakura had a broad grin on her face. "That's the Hallie I know and love," she said with much pride in her voice.

Riley also relaxed, slightly, "It seems she's finally beginning to act a bit like her old self." He leaned in closer and tapped the screen lightly taking in all current details about Sector 5 presented on screen. "That fall cost her 5 LP. She has only 35 left now."

Sakura shrugged it off, "She's Hallie. She's survived in worse circumstances with lower life points and higher stakes. She'll be fine."

A new blip on the screen caught Riley's grey eye. "I hope you're right. The situation just got worse."

A small squeak of a peep was all the warning Hallie had to her newest source of woe before a jolt of static told her she had been shot. Hallie hurriedly resumed her concentration on the shield in front of her regrouping the energy sparks' pattern, weaving, strengthening, and bolstering the shield from the tarantula's fire.

_I have 25 LP left. Wonderful._

From behind, the pint sized peep peered at its prey in a way akin to human curiosity. All data logs and downloads in its programming ordered the shooting of all targets (prey) on sight and to expect immediate hostility, resistance and retaliation. The peep cocked its Froggy head at the back of Hallie running image scans to cross reference with the records. The target indeed matched up as a target on the target list of targets the scan brought up, but the target was not commencing with hostility, resistance, or retaliatory actions. Perhaps the target was malfunctioning and needed to be reprogrammed.

The peep elicited another 'peep' along with another laser bolt and proceeded to observe the possibly malfunction target's response. The target showed signs of movement, but it was not focused toward the peep. The signs of movement and energy emissions were focused on the energy force field in front of the target. The possibility of a malfunction in the target increase dramatically in the peep's mechanical mind.

_15 LP. Great, two more hits, and I'm through. I can't fight. It's taking all of my concentration to hold this field up and think to a reasonable degree under the tarantula's and that frog's assaults. Fighting is out of the question. I can't even speak out loud. This is bad._

The peep was running a search in the monster mainframe for a course of action to take against this malfunctioning target. If the target was malfunctioning at response to attack, there was a distinct possibility it would continue to malfunction and refuse to be eliminated once the boundaries set were drained by the peep's laser fire when the target would be vanquished.

The search scan programs closed on the peep's view screen. A vocal recognition program immediately popped up running as soon as new vocal data commands entered the peep's sensors.

"Dismissed, I'll deal with the," the peep's sensor picked up a spike in the vocal sounds which when compared to a data chart of emotions based on voice pitch and timber matched up with the term _amusement_, "malfunctioning target."

Satisfied the peep hopped away leaving the malfunction target to the prodigy, or, as his identification scan had come in with, XANA.2.

Hallie waited for the inevitable laser bolt to bring her LP dangerously closer to zero. When none came she ventured a look over her shoulder. Dante was observing her force field with great interest.

"You've improved,' he stated. Hallie beamed at him. "but-" here the beaming stopped, "you lack common sense. Next time include yourself in the boundaries of the force field. It could very well save your life."

All beaming had taken an abrupt about face to full on glaring at Dante. Paying no heed to the rather intimidating looks Hallie was producing (if looks could devirtualize Dante would be back in the scanner on earth) Dante requested passage inside the force field to the data outlet. Hallie grudgingly let him pass through. Drew cheered as the download was finally 100 percent complete.

"Mission Complete!"

Hallie sighed in relief. She would quite happily be willing to return to earth. It was, in her opinion, much safer. And she was going to see her parents. Bonus!

Hallie stepped out of the scanners with a thoughtful look on her face. The look lingered even as she entered the elevator with the two gentlemen, Dante and Drew, who had safely escorted her to a tower and had graciously waited for her appearance in the scanner room before heading to the control room. The elevator ride up was quiet. Hallie didn't offer any attempts for communication in order to get to know and bond with her friends.

Hallie may not have been talking to her friends, but she sure was thinking about them and her parents and schemes that required scheming. So enraptured in her thoughts Hallie was, that she didn't notice the elevator doors opening until a yell across the room from Sakura brought Hallie back to earth.

"Do you or do you not claim Furuba 19?"

Hallie's head snapped up. The first word out of her mouth was, huh, and the second an indignant, hey! Soon the two girls were involved in a game of keep away with the novel.

Drew broke the two apart grabbing the manga and high tailing it for the elevator. Fortunately for him, the elevator door closed before the two enraged females (Hallie because he wasn't giving her, her book back and Sakura because he had taken the book from her) could pounce and proceed to pound on him.

Hallie and Sakura now, operating under an unspoken truce, looked at each other.

"Rail ladder?" Hallie offered.

"Rail ladder." Sakura confirmed with a steely look of determination in her eyes.

Both Riley and Dante started as the two girls left to hunt down Drew. It looked as if that unless Drew could come up with some brilliant solution or make a quick peace with the girls then he would have two very peeved females to somehow manage which is never a good thing for a guy. Two girls ganging up on one guy was almost as bad as the classic 'Does this make me look fat?' question. There was no good answer or solution for the problem.

Dante chuckled and walked toward the elevator.

"Where were you?"

The question was quiet yet hit like an arrow the heart of the matter. Dante stopped and turned back to face Riley, the speaker. The lighting in the room dimmed minutely. Dante looked at Riley, looked him in the eye as if initiating a silent challenge.

Undeterred Riley continued. "On Lyoko in Sector 5," Riley stated crossing his arms and looking straight back at Dante with the same silent challenge, "you disappeared and reappeared on the map."

Dante didn't reply or change his position. Riley didn't move or say anything further either. The two stood holding their bodies stiffly staring down the other, neither giving an inch.

A loud crash and the sound of breaking glass along with distant high pitched voices shattered the ominous climate building in the control room, but it didn't shatter the stare off.

"We should probably intervene," Dante quietly enunciated.

Mirroring the same calm and seriousness radiating off Dante, Riley replied, "Probably."

The two broke the stillness and walked to the elevator to intervene between the chaos Drew and the girls were stirring up. They left the issue of Dante's disappearance temporarily closed, but not resolved.

Hallie waved cheerfully from the taxi window at Riley, Dante, Sakura, and Drew. Sakura had forgiven Drew, and, as it turned out, the loud crash of breaking glass did not hurt anyone nor was it intended to hurt anyone.

Now all four watched Hallie's cab pull away and the same question was on the Triple Threat's minds. How on earth were they supposed to convince their parents to sign a permission slip saying they were allowed to go on a field trip to a virtual reality gaming arcade when they already could go to a virtual world whenever their little hearts desired?

Dante wasn't worried. Why should he be? He was adopted, and his adoptive parents were oblivious to his Lyoko activities. Lucky him.

Sticky Note: 3-28-08: Yeah, Fruits Basket 19 is finally out!


	72. Chapter 72

Chapter 72:

**Chapter 72:**

It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the bees were buzzing. It was perfect gardening weather.

The grass was green and the soil moist as Mrs. Millard pulled up or rather attempted to pull up one particularly stubborn weed. She was currently red faced and puffing with the exertion. Her straw gardening hat had tilted to a lop-sided resting place on her frizzy red hair. While it was a good day to garden it was not a good day for Mrs. Millard to pull up particularly obstinate weeds that just happen to like being rooted into the ground, thank you.

With a cry (whether of exhaustion, frustration or triumph no one but Mrs. Millard would know) Mrs. Millard fell backward onto the grass with a heavy thump. She growled as she surveyed her sore, red, puffy, grass stained, and most importantly empty hands. The weed was still rooted into the ground.

"Ooh!" she huffed before wiping her hands on her faded gardening jeans.

"Need some help?" asked an obviously male voice.

Mrs. Millard pursed her lips and scowled against the sun at her visitor.

"So I _do_ have four sons," she mused aloud looking intently at Dante.

"Hello, Mom," he replied in response.

"Dante," came a happy shriek as Claire, Dante's youngest sister, shot out of the house toward Dante.

"Claire!" he called back as he crouched down while opening his arms to receive a hug. He roared and lifted Claire in the air fake roaring as he swung the giggling girl around.

Finally back down with her feet firmly planted on the earth Claire peered up at Dante with serious brown eyes. "I missed you, Dantes."

Dante smiled. "Who told you to call me Dantes?" he asked playfully. He received a toothy, and semi tooth-less grin.

"Stella did. She came and talked to Mom 'bout you a coupla days ago an' called ya Dantes. Is she your girlfriend?"

Dante ignored the girlfriend question for the time being. "Really," Dante asked, intrigued, "Do you know what she said?"

Claire shook her head so hard in a 'no' that her brown curls were flying in a small cloud over her face. "No, but Mommy might tell you."

Dante looked over at his adoptive mother's face. She was currently staring evilly at that one lone weed, eyeing it as if she might spring out the week killer to wield against it at any given moment which when considering her character and the current circumstances was highly likely. The possibility of his mother imparting any reasonable thoughts besides the destruction of all weeds from her nearly immaculate lawn at the given moment was very low.

Dante decided to ask her about the subject later, but regardless it brought up a very good question. Why had Hallie come to talk to his mom? And why hadn't she told him about it?

-0-

Riley Stern. Andrew Della Robia, two strong young men of striking intellect and intelligence. Their teachers praised their leadership skills and out of the box problem solving skills, and their over all ability to think on their feet in times of crisis (pop quizzes and fire drills). These two bright young men were respected and in the good graces of the majority of their teachers books.

These two bright young men were currently horribly bored. Drew was fiddling around with a tangle of electrical extension cords snaking the outlet plug in through the discordant mess of the, well, cords. Riley was laying on his bed bouncing a tennis ball off his dresser and catching the ball on the rebound.

Whenever the ball hit the dresser it would make a _thwap_ sound. Whenever Riley reached out and caught the ball in his hand, the ball made a soft _put_ sound.

Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put.

A pounding from the dorm to the left side of the wall beside Riley's bed echoed through the room.

"Shut up! Some of us are trying to study!" called a muffled angry voice. Riley and Drew shared a smug smile as Riley quit throwing the tennis ball for the moment. But five minutes later…

Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put.

Pound, pound, pound, pound, pound. "Shut up!" Smug smiles.

Five minutes later…

Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. POUND, POUND, POUND, POUND "SHUT IT!"

Five minutes later…

Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put…

10 minutes later…

Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put…

Drew opened the door to their dorm and disappeared out into the hall for a short amount of time before re-entering the room holding a sheet of paper in his hands.

"We," Drew started, extending the piece of paper to Riley, "are pathetic. We could be doing anything on this weekend, and what are we doing? Untangling extension cords, and throwing and catching tennis balls simply to annoy our neighboring dorm occupants. We used to have a life!"

Riley read the piece of paper: At library.

In the parenthesis below the original message, the paper read: (Where it is quiet). Riley then looked at the open tennis ball container by his bed as Drew continued his rant.

Ready.

"I'm broke, so I can't do anything," Drew continued in a mini rant.

Aim.

"But you, you don't have a hobby or-"

FIRE!

"-a girlfriend—oof!" The tennis ball had hit Drew square in the middle of his stomach. Drew doubled over trying to regain all the air that had rushed out of his lungs.

"You-throw-like-your-sister-only-harder," Drew wheezed. Riley grinned and grabbed another tennis ball.

Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put. Thwap, put.

"She had to learn it from someone," Riley finally said with that very familiar smug smile. Riley paused briefly in his tossing and catching of the tennis ball as a familiar sound caught his ears. It was muffled and from further down the hall, but it was an unmistakable, "Shut up!"

Drew and Riley started howling in laughter.

-0-

Deep in the darkest core of Sector 5 XANA brooded. For an artificial intelligence program it had observed behaviors during its interactions with the lesser human world which it simulated to an extent. The logic behind these behaviors wasn't sound nor could XANA see the logic behind his son's emulations, at times seemingly genuine, of these behaviors.

His son, XANA.2, was masquerading as this 'Dante' in the lesser human world. It was partly for his son's adoption of human behaviors that XANA was simulating them to see the logic behind it. To see if a new hand or power would emerge from it; so far nothing had been gleaned, and XANA sat back, figuratively speaking of course, to assess the situation.

XANA.2 was still deviating about on earth fascinated by its inhabitants, one in particular. He was too fascinated, too entwined with this human. He was not supposed to be acting like this. His whole stint on earth should not have continued for so long or have gone this far.

XANA.2 had first been conceived by XANA as an upgrade, and extension of XANA's own artificial intelligence; this upgrade would once and for all allow XANA to triumph over the world and crush it, but even from the beginning XANA's son had proved obstinate.

It was after XANA's release from the prison on the internet, and after XANA had returned to Lyoko manipulating the inhabitants of the lesser earth into turning on the supercomputer for XANA to repossess while distracting old adversaries from the knowledge of XANA's return.

During the formation of XANA.2 something inexplicable happened. The program began developing out of control, out of XANA's control. It was molded and programmed and formed by an outside force until the present being that was XANA.2 was complete. Awestruck, as much as a machine and computer program could be, XANA had been faced with an entirely separate being no longer the planned extension of XANA.

XANA then did a very illogical and a very mundane thing after that. XANA had adopted the lesser earth term of 'father' and also the word 'son' calling himself, XANA, the father of XANA.2 who was his son and with being XANA's son also XANA's successor.

XANA had seen with clarity that he would not outlast this new being and XANA also saw that he could not bring himself to destroy it. And so he had adopted XANA.2.

But now his son had wandered far without repentance and with little interest of returning to XANA. And XANA saw it was because of the key, the one human who so entranced and fascinated his son.

_She_ was the barrier, the key, to his son's rebellion. Without the key XANA.2 would no longer have a reason to linger in the lesser world and would return to his father. Then with XANA.2's return they would rule the world with an iron fist, father and son.

This task of destroying the key was easier planned then enacted and completed. For three years XANA had been trying to destroy the key, but all his attempts had only left the key crippled not destroyed. And his son was obstinately healing, reforming, and shaping the key back to its full potential. For every one step forward it was two steps backward in XANA's schemes.

But XANA had intelligence; it learned, and from all his encounters concerning his son and the key had led XANA back to the same two observations and conclusion.

Observation one: XANA.2 fiercely guarded and protected the key on Lyoko and on earth. With him as the key's champion no harm would destroy or best the key.

Observation two: Apart from XANA.2, the key was still powerful, but crippled. Alone the key was wounded not yet fully recovered from XANA's last lingering blow he had dealt to the key when it was separated however briefly from its champion.

This led to the ultimate conclusion that the key could be destroyed when separated from XANA.2. The key would be destroyed, and XANA's son would return. To these ends XANA brooded.

-0-

Hallie swung her legs happily from her perch on the stainless steel countertop part of the Belpois Industries Laboratories in the Experiment Department. This was where all the "toys" were created, and Hallie really like the toys. Being the daughter of the owner and head of the company had its perks which included testing any toys the department cranked out that she wanted, within adequate parental supervision and reason.

Today both her Mom and her Dad were with her in the Testing Area. Hallie knew what that meant. She would be able to get away with a lot of toy testing that day. And today the person handing out the toys and introducing them was the person who had brainstormed and patented them, her father.

She was understandably excited. Her father created the best toys.

Sitting in a swivel chair near the counter reclined with a very serene manner surrounding her was Hallie's mother, Aelita. Hallie chanced a glance at her mom's form. Deep in those forest green eyes was a spark of excitement that mirrored Hallie's own green eyes.

Jeremy dressed in a lab coat over his regular blue sweater turned back to face his girls with a try of goodies, so Hallie dubbed them. Hallie's leg swinging velocity increased dramatically.

"Watcha got?" she asked animatedly, eyes shining.

Jeremy gave her a stern look, "Use proper English, Halinor."

Repressing an eye roll, Hallie tried again, "What is the latest creation that your lab team has given life too?"

Jeremy smiled as a hint of humor entered his eyes.

"Now before I show a portion of the fruits of my employees labors, let's hear about how my daughter's life has been going."

"Dad!" Hallie said drawing out the word while expressing her dislike to his subtle ribbing and game of keeping the surprises from Hallie.

"Answer the question," Aelita chimed in from her seat, "I would like to hear about my daughter's life also."

Hallie suppressed a groan and racked her brain. What interesting thing had happened to her recently? Memories from her most recent excursion to Lyoko earlier that day popped up: there was that mysterious last defense bracelet, the new monsters on Lyoko, slamming into that boulder. Even further back in her memory were images of a yellow samurai and a purple cat man along with a sphere accompanied by a lethal mind numbing white noise. Also mixed in were those nightmares and that helpless feeling of falling.

"…nothing much," Hallie replied in response to the goings on in her life, "Sakura has a crush on Drew and is in major denial over it. I helped make the costumes for my English class's play _The Frog Prince_. Dante gave me the nineteenth volume of the Fruits Basket series, and the freshmen and sophomore classes have a field trip coming up in the next two weeks to a virtual reality video game arcade on the day of its grand opening. I think Principal Delmas knows the owner, a Herve somebody," here both Jeremy and Aelita smiled, "and I need one of you two to sign my permission slip saying I can go, and you won't sue the company if I get hurt."

Aelita smiled, "I'll sign the permission slip. Alright now, Jeremy, about these latest inventions."

Jeremy grinned and pulled off the first item from the tray, a skate board without wheels…

-0-

A pounding on the door interrupted Riley and Drew from the same less then stimulating activities they had been occupying themselves with for the past hour, respectively Drew untangling and fiddling around with his electronics while Riley pounded insanity into the minds of all members and occupants of his hallway with the monotonous and repetitive _thwap, put_ of bouncing his tennis ball off the dresser and catching it. He had slowly but surely sent almost all dorm students packing and evacuating out of their dorm rooms for quieter, silent areas of the campus.

The pounding on the door was not the first sign of young adult males threatening to break down the door, break the creators of the noise's neck and other threats of rather impossible physical violence. None had made it through the door. Most just shouted what they had come to say and stalked off with nary a word afterwards, except for Felix. That young, hot head freshman resided down the hall closest to the showers and was as obstinate as a mule and had made it a game of pounding on Riley and Drew's door periodically.

Riley and Drew shared a look as the pounding subsided. Drew shook his head in a small but definite no. He had chased off Felix last time; it was Riley's turn.

"No thank you, we aren't receiving complaints at this time. Shove off and don't bug us again," he shouted.

It was quiet outside the door. The guys relaxed going back to their previous activities not at all aware of the fact that the calm was always the forefront for the storm. Poor Riley.

"Joseph Riley Stern," barked an authoritative female voice, "you open this door right now, young man."

Riley paled in apprehension before getting off the bed and heading for the door. Drew watched wondering what female on the face of the earth save Sakura and Hallie could hold such power over his friend.

Riley opened the door all the way standing tall and respectful as he towered over the woman who just reached his shoulders in height and stood beyond the doorway. Drew craned his head. That lady seemed awfully familiar for some reason even though Drew knew he hadn't met her before in his life. Maybe he had seen her in a picture somewhere.

"What was the meaning of that statement, young man?" the middle aged woman asked. There was a slight trace of grey in her hair, but age hadn't stolen from her figure the strength or determination that burned deep with this woman's slanted black eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Riley muttered cringing and his mom's anger and the smug expression on his sister's face as she rested against the opposite wall. Inside he was burning in embarrassment, humiliation and anger a wicked fire that he had effectively learned how to control many years ago. His one regret was that there were witnesses to his humiliation as his mother verbally reminded him quite poignantly the value of politeness.

Time hadn't changed Yumi Stern that much over the years.

Author's note 4-5-08:

I have been making a conscious effort in wrapping up this story. It will start with the next chapter but may take a month or two to finish. I hope to finish Return my Past before school lets out. Oh well, thanks so much for everybody who has endured since last July when I published the first chapters. I must commend you for your determination and forbearance. Thanks bunches to everyone that has slogged through all of these chapters and still want me to write. Thanks a ton lizzpercush.


	73. Chapter 73: Count down to the end

Chapter 73

**Chapter 73**

The scenery outside the glass window blurred before Stella's eyes as the luxury bus cruised on ahead down the highway toward its unknown destination. Not that the destination was unknown to Stella; she knew the name and address of the building the freshmen and sophomores of Kaddic High Academy were motoring toward in their four bus caravan; she just didn't recognize any of the surroundings of the roads that were between Kaddic High and the Chronos Inc. newest virtual reality arcade center.

The blurring of the outline reminded Stella of an afternoon two weeks ago when she was not in a bus watching the scenery flash by but in the air on one of Belpois Industries latest prototype pet project, a hover board, the blueprints of which were based off the overboard her father had created on Lyoko for Odd. She had been taking the maiden flight out on the Oddball (so name for her father's close friend) when they received news, and the entire facility went into lockdown.

When in the air that time and the scenery blurred past as she soared in a panicked manner of urgency the environment hadn't been the carefully controlled one like the bus she was riding on. It had been cold, and the wind's angry bite was an ruthless adversary on her bare skin and watering eyes.

_Two weeks ago…_

The late afternoon had slowly but surely been begun to bleed into evening leading the Stern family going out to eat with Drew along for the ride, of course, with the express invitation of Mr. Ulrich Stern himself.

From what Stella could gather from the cell phone messages she had pieced together was that the adult Sterns, Uncle Ulrich and Aunt Yumi, had come to spend family time with Riley and Sakura which had already lumped in Riley's roommate, the one and only Andrew Della Robia. The Stern family experienced an amiable debate over the topic on which restaurant in the area they were to dine at.

As all things do, the next event happened quickly and without warning. Things went very wrong very fast leaving the Stern family, and guest, stuck in traffic over a major body of water on a bridge with hundreds of other commuters and Saturday restaurant goers at risk of a long plummet into the cold waters grip below.

The reason for such a risk? A XANA attack with the typical underhanded '_I will conquer the world by destroying all who oppose me_' tactics. Bombs had been planted under the bridge in architectural weak points that would ensure the destruction of the bridge if the time limit on the bomb was reached.

Even without being 100 percent positive it was a XANA attack, Hallie could smell XANA's meddling in the situation, and even speeding along as fast as she could toward the factory she knew with an ominous certainty she was in a race against time; a race she would not win.

"_How are things going with Dante?" her mother had asked._

_Hallie hesitated before answering, "Confusing and it leaves me feeling…guilty."_

_This had spurred her mother's interest. "Why," she asked._

"Hal, I'm at the factory. I'll deactivate the tower."

"NO!"

"What?! Hal, there are hundreds of lives at stake!" Dante's voice over her cell phone had changed to an exasperated growl.

"No, I'm coming! I'll be there, I promise. Don't deactivate the tower!"

Hallie had then hung up the cell phone and refused to answer it after that point no matter how long her ring tone (Lion King's: in the jungle the lion sleeps tonight) continued.

Dante was the worst type of puzzle for Hallie, a living one. A puzzle that refused to be dissected or answer any of her questions that he deemed on a need to know bases a.k.a if you don't know already, you don't need to.

"_Why guilty?"_

_Hallie was quietly debating inwardly before she unveiled one of the deepest secrets she kept hidden, "I don't remember a lot about my 7__th__ grade year of middle school at Kaddic Middle nor much about the friends I made there. That includes Dante. I remember to an extent how we met via the super computer and a data screen on Lyoko. I know now from what scanty information I've been able to weasel out of him that he was my friend, but…I don't know why. _

"_Sometimes I catch him looking at me with this far away hurt look in his eye, and he looks so sad. Why? Why does he look so sad, and why do I feel that it's my fault? Is it because I have lost my memory and my stupid mind won't let me remember anything prior to waking up in the hospital bed stretching back to my first day at Kaddic Middle the very minute I walked onto the campus as a seventh grade student?"_

_Aelita had laid a comforting hand on Hallie's back rubbing soothing circles as Hallie's voice became strained, tear choked, "I want to help him, but I don't know why. I'm scared for him, and I don't know why; and this whole situation entirely confuses and frightens me, and somehow, I know XANA is responsible."_

_At the mention of XANA Aelita had frozen, and then sirens blared as lockdown ensued on the facility as if the very mention of XANA's name summoned the change in security status._

Back in the present:

"Stella!" Hallie in her school masquerade as the youngest Stern child sibling to Sakura and Riley whipped her dyed brown head of hair towards Sakura, the caller of her name.

The two were sitting side by side, seat by seat actually, on the Freshmen A Bus en route to the much looked forward to field trip of virtual reality gaming arcade.

"Are you alright? That's the third time I've caught you staring out the window not listening to me."

The bus rattled over one particularly deep pot hole causing a huge jolt and all students in the very back of the bus (the boys were the loudest, naturally) to whoop in delight as they soared a foot into the air off their seats.

Stella gave Sakura a smile; all lip no eye, a fake smile if you will before answering, "Nothing's wrong. I was just thinking."

"It's about two weeks ago, isn't it?" Sakura's voice leapt straight to the heart of the matter leaving no room for argument. "Something happened," Sakura continued, "I don't know what, but you haven't been the same since. You're quiet, distant, you disappear for hours without a trace; you go out of your way to avoid us, your friends, and your entire personality has changed. What happened and don't blame XANA. We've experienced worse attacks, and the tower was deactivated before the bombs blew, plus the return to the past ensured that a bomb threat was phoned in and kept the entire situation from reoccurring."

Stella twiddled her fingers. There was truth in Sakura's statements, some of them. She had been quiet, distant, and stealing away to be by herself, plus she had been purposely avoiding her friends or one of them anyway.

"Hal," Sakura's voice was a very low and serious tone, "you aren't thinking of trying to…_kill_...your self, are you?"

That was the last straw. Something in Stella snapped. She burst out laughing, no _howling_ uncontrollably in such a manner that tears were streaming down her face, and she couldn't breathe as she pounded her fist against the seat in front of her in her fit of mirth.

Sakura, more than a bit flustered (this was the biggest show of emotion Hallie had shown in two weeks) persevered regardless, "I was worried. I went online to see if I could find anything to help you, and I read this article about teen suicide and the warning signs: change in personality, isolation, pushing away friends…It all fit, and…will you quit laughing?"

Eventually (15 minutes later with a rather upset Sakura sulking beside her and an entire bus giving her _you are a freak of nature what is wrong with you_ look), Stella's laughter was subdued to more controllable stretched out giggle fits. Stella wiped a tear from her eye.

"Thank you for being such a good friend," was the first thing Stella said to Sakura, "and no, I have absolutely no ideas of killing myself or elaborate plans or set schedules to do such a thing. If you only knew how ludicrous that idea is..." Stella trailed off before a new round of laughter broke out.

Finally (five years later), with ever eye on the bus fastened unwaveringly on Stella and Sakura by that point, Stella could speak semi-coherently without bursting out into laughter attacks.

"Alright, explanation time. If I have been avoiding you guys, it's nothing personal. I'm just working on a special…project, and I want it to be a surprise."

"That's it?" Sakura was surprised. A project? For what, best buds of the month club, "You've been killing yourself," at the hint of the beginning of another round of giggles Sakura continued rapidly, "Metaphorically speaking of course, for two weeks on a project. This is why you have been avoiding Dante for two weeks? Well, yes, I see you're point of view; he's Dante, the machine whisperer. What's with that look on your face?"

Comprehension dawned, "This does have something to do with Dante, doesn't it?"

Stella had a soft smile on her face an almost bittersweet one at that.

"Sakura, if you could save someone from themselves, wouldn't you do it, or try to?"

It wasn't as if Stella needed an answer. She had one when Sakura confronted her minutes ago on being possibly suicidal.

"Sakura, I have almost no memory of my former friendship with Dante, and I know it makes him sad, but let me assure you. I have absolutely no intention of dying on you guys."

Sakura watched Stella, judging her actions while weighing the best way of approach. After the return to the past from the bridge bomb threat, Stella had withdrawn after returning from visiting her parents and had immediately locked herself in her dormitory. She could not be coaxed out, coerced or forced for two days to leave her room. First Sakura had been annoyed, and then she was exasperated and finally worried.

At the highest point of Sakura's exasperation she had phoned the boys all who pleaded with Stella outside her door. Not one had been let in and the silence except for the odd sound of a chair scraping across the floor, the typing of keys on a computer keyboard, and the occasional crumpling/ripping of paper were the only signs that Stella was alive. Sakura had grown worried when Dante, Dante, hadn't been able to talk Stella out of her room. Something most definitely had to be wrong with Stella if Dante couldn't sway her.

Hallie adored Dante, adored. She teased him, pulled him and included him in her schemes of mischief with Drew against the other Lyoko Warriors. Even Sakura had to admit that Dante had a very special place with Hallie, but if Dante couldn't coax her out like he had countless times in the past…then Sakura had real concrete reasons to worry about her best friend.

The quietness and isolation somehow, someway went back to that last XANA attack. That XANA attack that not only Stella didn't talk about, but Dante wouldn't talk about as well. There was a connection. Sakura knew it with all her young woman's intuition, but for the life of her she couldn't see what it was, and Stella delighted in talking about it.

A spiky red head with a scowling face popped up from between the two seats in the row in front of Sakura and Stella startling them both.

"Ya losers ready to get your hineys whipped on the race course?" he drawled. It was the one, the only and most despicable STEVEN! Give him a round of applause. Sakura stared at him as if he was the creature from the black lagoon.

"Why are you bothering us?" she asked in a strangled voice with the strange wide eyes look of disbelief still firmly imprinted on her face.

"'Cause it's fun, plus I owe you for sending that one loser on my case and making me be in your stupid play. I am allowed to bother you."

Stella offered him a genuinely friendly smile. Sakura started looking at Stella as if she had started sprouting geraniums from her head. Stella was being civil, no friendly, to Steven. Something was wrong, very, very wrong.

"Too bad all the sophomore guys, and all the sophomores for that matter, are on an entirely separate bus. I have you ladies all to my self for my personal amusement."

Sakura scowled and mentally promised to have Dante seriously mess up Steven's cell phone or just maybe let his computer totally crash without a hope of retrieving any of its former contents.

"They have a race game?" Stella asked Steven.

"They have every game: a questing/adventure game, race cars, a karaoke spoof off of this show that once circulated the American channels called American Idol, a dance competition, and section of oldies cartoons with like old games: Frogger, Packman, Tetris…"

Sakura turned her attention out the window. Steven was being friendly. Stella was avoiding Dante. Things were not right in the world.

(-:-)

The Chronos Inc. gaming arcade was reminiscent of a movie theater. Shortly after the buses pulled into the facility's parking lot all the major teachers departed the bus, with the restless teens still confined, to take care of all business needed to make the field trip proceed as planned. Not all responsible adults left the bus; the poor chaperones had to deal with the stir crazy rowdy teens before the teachers finally came back with strict instructions to take a ticket and go inside without a word.

No one listened to them, about being quiet that is. All of the teens accepted their ticket and plastic bracelet which basically said they had access to all the games for their appropriate age levels, and were in fact allowed in the facility. The pooling teens moved from the parking lot to the main lobby of the building.

Both sophomore and freshmen classes together totaled about 300 students give or take ten, a true pain for calling role on the buses, but Kaddic Academy was a small school. Despite the smaller size of the two classes it was very easy to lose yourself in the crowd of excited teens which Stella was counting on.

Now in the main lobby she was sitting on a bench with other miscellaneous teens in her grade she'd seen around school but never really met.

_The key is to do something so normal that no one will give me a second look._ Hallie felt a twinge of guilt. _Why am I avoiding my friends? Oh yeah, I have a big mouth._

Hallie hadn't said anything wrong to her friends per se. The situation was just that if she had a secret that wasn't life threatening or if she hadn't been told by an authority figure she could not tell anyone about said secret, she would sing like a canary any secret she held at the most random moments.

_Me and my big mouth, that's why. Uh-oh…I've been spotted!_

Indeed from across the room Drew had picked Hallie out even though she was sitting on her bench squished like a sardine reading her game descriptions booklet._ Why, why is Drew the one with the ability to pick any of us out of a crowd? Oh no…_

Hallie felt panic creeping up. Dante was in the group with Drew as was Sakura and Riley.

_Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man. I can't face __**him**_ _not after that! I mean I might spill my beans to Dante, but __**him**__?_ _Did I do something wrong? Does someone hate me?_

"Hey!"

Stella whipped her head around, her brown pony tail smashing into the face of the guy on her right. Stella reacted in an instant.

"I'm so sorry? Are you ok?"

The guy waved her off nodding while clutching his face, so Stella turned her head to the left where the sound of snapping fingers was coming from.

"You, yeah you, Stella-girl,"

It was Tania with a group of friends, some girls though the majority were male. Tania had been snapping her fingers in an attempt to catch Stella's attention.

"Stella, can I ask a favor of you?"

Stella reviewed her options mentally before nodding hesitantly, gradually beginning to lose her deer in headlights look. She would do anything for more time before meeting up with Riley and Dante.

-Meanwhile-

Drew stared in shock at the empty bench.

"She was right here!" he exclaimed pointing at the empty space where Stella had once sat, "I swear!"

Sakura, panting, squeezed through the masses to stop behind Drew. "I believe you; I saw her also."

"Well, where did she go?" Drew asked, "And where did Riley and Dante go?"

Sakura shrugged helplessly, regaining her breath. Finally when she looked up into Drew's eyes, for he was taller then she, she saw no trace of the usually good-humored guy she knew and semi-abhorred in a strange love-hate relationship. She saw pure seriousness. He had noticed it also.

Drew cocked his head to the side before walking away from the main group toward a less crowded hall by which the water fountains were. Sakura followed him without hesitation.

"Sakura, do you know what's going on with Hallie?"

The question was quiet and calm yet the seriousness was revealed by exactly that same calm aurora Drew used. Sakura forlornly shook her head no.

"I don't know why she's acting the way she's acting, but I have some observations I've made," Sakura said. When Drew made no move to comment Sakura continued.

"1. Hallie's been diligently avoiding being alone with Dante for the past two weeks. 2. Hallie has been disappearing during whatever free time she has when she is not doing her homework. 3. As of four days ago, she has been avoiding Riley like he's the plague. I assume that something has greatly upset her to cause her to avoid two of the five males that play a big role in her life."

"Five?"

"You, my dad, her dad, Riley and Dante."

"Meaning?"

"They must have tweaked her emotions quite a bit in the past two weeks."

-

"What did you do?"

Drew had spotted a rather startled Hallie across the room. The deer in headlights look making it obvious she knew she had been spotted, before Drew and Sakura started making their way across the crowded lobby.

"What do you mean?" Dante replied to Riley's cold statement.

"To Hallie. What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?"

Riley was silent, a war going on in his mind (choose your battles) between angry protectiveness and self-control. Self-control won.

"I know you've noticed her odd behavior," a slow nod was all the response Riley got from Dante, "but it has gotten worse."

Riley inhaled, "What did you do to cause Hallie to go onto Lyoko alone?"

This brought a reaction.

"She's doing what?!"

"Ever since the last XANA attack Hallie has been taking midnight escapades onto Lyoko in Sector 5," Dante's eyes were slowly turning red, "until four nights ago."

Dante took the bait, "What happened four nights ago?"

"I caught her. Now, what did you do?"

Dante closed his eyes and reopened them to reveal a cold, blank iron, "I used Code: XANA to destroy an activated tower. She freaked. End of story."

"Why didn't Hallie deactivate the tower?" Truly the atmosphere between the two alpha males was frighteningly tense and cold. All observers had subconsciously moved away from the two leaving them with their own little bubble.

"She was to far away; the bomb would have gone if I hadn't destroyed the tower."

The two were glaring daggers at the other when the intervention came. Having spotted the thundercloud on the horizon Sakura and Drew came up with a simple plan: divide and conquer.

"Wow, Dantes, they have a car race game. You pick a cartoon character and your car. One person drives and the other throws stuff at the other racers," Drew cut in.

Sakura was right beside him distracting Riley.

"Hey big bro, guess what? They have a soccer virtual reality tournament. I signed you up; they're taking all players now at theater three," Sakura said while beginning to shepherd Riley toward said theater on the right wing of the center while Drew was drawing Dante along toward theater twelve where the Crazy Race game was located.

Right at the entrance of theater three Riley seemed to snap. Of course, having your little sister push you across the front lobby through the entire freshmen and sophomore classes most of which who have some type of visual recording device on them will do that to a person.

Riley spun around and in a very loud and angry voice told Sakura to Bug Off before stalking away reminiscent of the Hulk leaving a very stunned Sakura whose face was rapidly turning a deep shade of crimson.

(-:-)

Tania with her merry band of video gamers was dragging Stella down the hall toward theater seven.

"Um…what favor am I doing for you?" she asked Tania hesitantly.

Tania turned a beaming face toward Stella, "Well since the Realm of Conquest is closed due to technical difficulties we're going to the surprise gaming viewing theater where you and an opponent face off and can have your own virtual battle recorded! It's too good to pass up."

"What does that have to do with me?" Stella queried further.

"Well you see we have thirteen people in our group. Not only is it bad luck, but we need an even number of people for a balanced roster. Plus, it kind of looked like you needed some help." Tania said.

Stella smiled touched at Tania's thoughtfulness.

After being ushered into the theater and given a VR helmet by one of Chronos Inc.'s employees, Stella sat in a lounge chair listening to the theater manager's instructions. Stella slowly began to relax.

She was going to a virtual world or a game really, for fun.

"Please remain seated as our techies check to make sure we have a valid connection between the games mainframe and your helmet."

She was going to have fun and wouldn't have to worry about actually dieing or having the world fall under the iron rule of a demonic artificial intelligence program.

"…please remember the game is not real, and you're tournament spars are being recorded…"

For once Stella could relax when she went to a virtual universe.

"…and remember if for any reason you need help please fell free to consult with one of our techies by touching your ear. We will assist you and in case of any danger or if an infrequency occurs you will be pulled out of your session for safeties sake. If you wish to leave the game early press the abort button…"

As Stella felt the programs and the VR helmet start to hum, she smiled to herself and thought a very roseate thought of the highly slim chances of anything majorly going wrong. Then she was in the game with a menu screen popping up for different character choices. One section in particular caught her eye.

_Classics…ooh…_

(-:-)

Sakura, extremely glum, waited for the next available open session for a turn in the virtual reality world. Dante and Drew were safely engaged in the Crazy Race game (the monitors showed a speeding anonymous black motorcyclist with a rather happy clown in a side car throwing pies at any and all opponents). When Sakura had meandered over to Riley's theatre the view screen showed rather enthusiastic soccer teams facing off with a certain offense player sticking out for his magnificent skill. Sakura had the distinct feeling her brother was venting his frustration through the soccer game. She worried for his opponents' mental health.

After three rounds of roaming the theater, Sakura had finally found Stella in the semi finals of a Nintendo characters face off. The distinguishing feature was the pointed ears and magical power bursts for attacks. Stella had always like elves, especial the male archers with pointy ears, blonde hair, blue eyes, with loyal steeds named Edona, annoying pixies and green forest garb which included a floppy conical green cap…(Legend of Zelda people)

Sakura had ultimately ended up sitting across from theatre thirteen which in her opinions was the most amusing game to watch, American Idol. Some game designer must have gone insane when he thought up a virtual reality version of American Idol. Sakura was waiting in a rather short line, consisting of herself, to be a judge. To be a judge, in Sakura's opinion, was the best job and easiest in the universe. Listen, critique, and repeat.

Stumbling out of the theater mumbling incomprehensible words, "tone death losers…" was an irritable teen judge escorted by one of theatre thirteen's techies. The techie looked around the small group of onlookers and extended one index finger directed exactly toward Sakura.

"I need you," Sakura had the vague notion if Drew was here he would be cracking up, "to be the next judge of American Idol."

Next thing Sakura knew she was being ushered into the theater having her rights and rules read to her while her VR helmet was being connected to the Chronos Inc. computer mainframe.

Then she was on a stage sitting behind a table with a glass of water in front of her and two other judges sitting on side of her. They all seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

"I have absolutely nothing to comment on."

And so the show went on.

(-:-)

The bunker of this virtual reality arcade was a mini version of NASA's mission control with row after row of computers each being run by a highly qualified techo (techies being the grunts who hook up the games to the mainframe while techos monitor the connection, game, and gamer). The techos were the invisible referees to the games eviction those who broke the rules and monitored the condition of the connection between the VR helmets and the Chronos Inc. mainframe. Techos also monitored the physical health of the gamer monitoring stress levels, heart rate and respiration.

For the grand opening with a field trip with high school students renting the arcade for the late morning and early afternoon, the launch of the arcade went fairly smoothly. The usual problems of malfunctioning VR helmets, unruly gamers, and squabbling siblings had been handled without a hitch. The Head Tech was please. The Bunker was the heart of the computer network stretching from the bunker to all twenty theaters. The bunker felt the effects of all problems first before the shockwaves spread over to the theatres much like dropping a stone into a pond. The water would be displaced, and the ripples would spread to the shores of the pond.

A fist sized stone had been hovering over the bunker all day, and only now did the stone drop. The Bunker felt the effects first as all screens tuned black with a flashing red foreign symbol appearing on it before all the computers froze. Pandemonium in the Bunker ensued as the techos and the Head Tech quickly found out they had lost connection to the virtual reality helmets and the games their consumers were participating in were proceeding. They had effectively been blocked off.

The tidal waves soon reached the theaters and the VR helmets and finally the gamers as a strange fusion of different worlds of virtual reality fused together as the gamers were trapped helplessly in their own minds. XANA strikes again.

Sticky note: 4-11-08: Ok, I will first apologize for whatever typos and grammar mistakes there are in this chapter. It took all afternoon and most of the evening to type up the longest chapter I have ever written for this story (NINE PAGES!), and I have to be off at eight 'cause my dad has to do taxes. I will most likely edit this chapter tomorrow and replace it with an edited version without the typos and grammar mistakes. Toodles.

p.s. for the record, Stella (Hallie) chose Princess Zelda as her character from the Legend of Zelda. I was just implying that stella really like Link and the Legend of Zelda which led to her choice of Princess Zelda for her character.


	74. Chapter 74

Chapter 74:

**Authoress note 4-19-08: Sorry. Once again I'll come through later and edit all typos and grammar issues; I'm in another bind for time; don't kill me, and yeah. Thank you. Oh yeah, I do not own red dawn or the wizard of oz.**

**Chapter 74:**

The immediate effects of XANA's attack came into focus when a shockwave rippled through all games sending a searing pain into the temples of each of the games. The results of such were…interesting.

Most cars and motor vehicles on the crazy Race game spun out of control, braked suddenly, or flipped across the race course.

In the Nintendo tournament current opponents froze in mid air shocked out of their controlled attempted air attacks before plummeting to the grounds of the arena and landing with a jarring thud, though bother were unharmed, physically at least.

On American Idol the current star wannabe was interrupted mid high note breaking their concentration (causing the star's short term memory loss of what the next words to the song were) ultimately resulting in the star holding the high note while their mind scrambled to regain its bearings.

And anticlimactically on the soccer tournament the sudden burst of the electric shock led to the miss of a penalty kick leaving the two teams tied with three minutes left on the clock.

The shockwave (another pun!) resulted in many confused, irritable, lost, infuriated gamers which led to quite a bit of ear tugging in an effort to contact the techies, and when that failed the gamers resorted to hitting the abort button, literally.

Sakura winced as she watched one of her fellow judges hit themselves in the face. Someone up high in the programming department must have thought the idea of activating the abort button by pressing the tip of your nose funny, although…no. The programmer had a cruel sense of humor to lead these teens into hitting themselves, smashing, poking, slapping and whacking their noses.

"Alright, will the next performer come to the stage," one of her fellow judges called. After some semblance of normality returned to the gamers, the show proceeded.

The next wannabe idol came onstage with a big grin and a microphone in hand. All three judges sat back in their chairs waiting for the song to begin.

The music began and all members in the crowd stiffened. Some relatively calm gamers resorted to desperate tactics of continuously whacking their nose. Sakura caught different snippets of conversation from the audience in her immediately vicinity.

"Oh no, not this song."

"No! Everyone plug their ears!"

Some of the more eccentric audience members began joining in as the peals of song began crescendo toward the start of the first lyrics of the song.

"Fly away!"

"Run! RUN AWAY!"

Other members of the crowd seemed to be turning mobbish.

"I hate this song!"

"Put a sock in it!"

And finally the idol wannabe with the grin still implanted firmly on his face began singing.

_"I tried to discover a little something to make sweeter…"_

Sakura began to question the man's sanity. Was he trying to annoy everyone, was he a sadist, or was he just oblivious?

_"Oh baby reframe from breaking my heart!"_

The second of the immediate facts and the clarification of the situation came with the interruption of _A little respect _by Wheatus by swooping aerial laser fire from…

_No, it's impossible._ Sakura thought as the audience screamed and fled for shelter backstage. The swarm of hornets pulled up and flew away most likely to come around again for another round of laser fire.

Right then Sakura wished she had some sort of weapon to throw at the swarm. A handy morning star, a fan or even a dagger. She settled for the next best thing, the mike stand.

Leaping over the table Sakura dashed across the stage and branshied the mike stand. Somehow, someway XANA had planted his monsters in this virtual reality game. All Sakura cared about was making sure none of these gamers got hurt in the crossfire between herself and the monsters.

She didn't stand alone. At her example other contestants began to think outside their noggin in terms of resistance.

_Bring it on…_

-0-

All across the theaters XANA's monsters poured in startling all gamers which in turn gave XANA's monsters the upper hand, for the moment. Two things became apparent after the initial shock was passed.

One: groups of presumably overwhelming monsters of XANA had penetrated theaters one through twenty.

Two: the gamers couldn't have asked for a better challenge of their skills…

-0-

"Alright, we have four crabs err whatchmercallemsat ten o'clock from the arena entrance. Red group and blue group will go in for the attack while gold group goes after those cubes…"

"…those quadrupeds are on the third turn…five…rolling spheres…Rogue leader is your aerial squadron ready?"

"Alright we have four humpty dumptees in the goal box. Are those soccer balls collected?"

"Speakers set awaiting orders for plan Jericho…-Good work, get that crazy girl off the stage and set up a mike. Oh, someone in the sound booth set up a mike stand on stage and pull all idols/idiots except for our last contestant offstage-...Roger, roger."

All through theatres one through twenty the teens were uniting against their newest opponents with great enthusiasm.

Hallie was perched atop a tower overlooking the coliseum where down below she could watch the skirmish between XANA's crabs and blocs and other members of the tournament take place. She was up in loft area of the coliseum with other long range fighters. Below the arena doors slammed open, and Blue Group poured out into the arena swarming the crabs. Hallie watched with satisfaction as one gamer sent a crab hurtling into the arena wall.

Out of nowhere a voice right beside Hallie's ear spoke.

"Are you alright?"

The fireball Hallie had been guiding toward a crab's XANA's eye target combusted prematurely, but the resulting explosion still blew away the crab. Hallie calmed her racing heart. This was very familiar.

"Dante?"

"I'll assume you're alright."

"Haven't we already had this conversation?"

"Are there any abnormalities in your gaming theatre?"

Hallie sighed, swore to herself to keep her mouth shut and cast an engaged eye over the scene in front of her.

"If by abnormalities you mean XANA's monsters appearing and attacking then yes. Although, I do believe my fellow gamers are thoroughly enjoying themselves. What about you?"

In the pit of the race track Dante leaned against some obscure characters race car while he spoke to Hallie. Around him on the track rolling mega tanks spun around the course chasing or being chased by various racers in their respective automobiles.

Two cars shot off down the track from the pit stop heading toward the race track. Stretched taught between was a silver metal cable, a trip line. Accelerating down the track, the pair targeted a running tarantula chasing down a horse and buggy.

The air was filled with the scream of the car engines as the automobiles shot down the track effectively toppling the tarantula when it made the mistake of going biped to shoot at the hose and buggy scapegoat. A well aimed roman spear destroyed the tarantula.

"That is precisely what I mean. Hal, where is your technology cluster in your game?"

Two motorcycles pealed away down the service lane to the race track as two limping vehicles drove into the pit service crew area. The cars were swarmed with mechanics replacing damaged body armor, refueling the car, fixing and replacing wanting parts, and replenishing the offensive weapons.

"What?"

Dante patiently explained as his red eyes tracked the two motorcyclists' progress on the track.

"Each theater has a technology cluster; it's where the employees can monitor the connection between their computer and our VR helmets. Like wise all our games have a technology cluster in them which is the link between the game and the computer. For example on the Crazy Race Game our technology cluster is the pit stop."

Ambitious the two motorcyclists were. The two were speeding along pulling even with a mega tank's metal body armor. All other automobiles pulled back and away wary of the mega tank's potential assaults. Many crashes could be attributed to that one mega tank's presence on the track. There had been five mega tanks originally, and now only two remained. Those motorcyclists were aiming to make it one.

"Now Hal, where is your technology cluster?"

One of the motorcyclists drew a chain with a strange looking suction attachment and began twirling it. The attachment looked strangely like a pie…The pie suction soared in a perfect arc to attack onto the mega tank's swirling sides. The opposite motorcyclist mirrored the first's move, and the two braked in unison.

"Um…" Hallie mused aloud as she racked her memory.

The motorcyclists' maneuver would have been the most fool hardy Dante had ever seen if he didn't have inside information. When the chains connecting to the mega tank would go taught if the chain had been attached to just the two motorcycles the bikes would be jerked forward and out from under the motorcyclists effectively flipping or injuring their riders while the mega tank would have the extra weight of two motorcycles dragging behind it like tin cans behind the bride and groom's get away car after a wedding. However if the chains were connected to something a bit more substantial and heavier then the mega tank…

The chains snapped taught, and the mega tank was jerked back like a charging puppy that had reached the end of its leash. The mega tank was jerked into a rapid rolling reverse before it regained its sense of balance and preceded with laser retaliation.

The mega tank opened and began charging its laser beam; that was the mega tank's one and final mistake. One of the motorcyclists had doubled back on the track to where a portion of the pit crew had set up a wooden ramp. The mega tank exploded as a rider-less motorcycle falling from the sky K.O.ed it dead center in its XANA's eye. The average pyromaniac would have been simply delighted with the explosion and fire graphics that resulted.

"Yeah, I think I know where it is, why?"

Dante glanced behind him at the flurry of activity in the pit stop then back toward the track. A golf cart was shuttling the motorcyclist who had used their motorcycle as a makeshift weapon back to the pit stop, the link. The connection should be strong enough for Dante's intended purposes once the motorcyclist had reached the pit stop.

"Does your abort button work?" Dante asked. It was a semi-rhetorical question.

"No,"

"XANA has cut off the theatres connection and replaced it with the one able to send his monsters to main computer frame of the virtual reality center which trickled down to all the theaters."

"Lyoko."

"Correct, and since we want to fix this problem before any of the gamers get hurt we need to follow our technology cluster link back to Lyoko."

"Ooh-kay…does everyone else know about this, and will they join us?"

The golf cart rattled to a stop beside Dante and the dare devil motorcyclist dismounted. The golf cart then drove off. Wrestling with his helmet the dare devil tugged off the safety precaution to reveal slightly spiky blond hair to the artificial sunshine of the Crazy Race Game.

"Drew knows, and I'm sending a message to Riley and Sakura."

"O.K. Ooh…crab got owned. Seeya Dantes!"

Dante, a bit disturbed by Hallie's sudden "hanging up" (he was the one who had control of the connection that allowed the two to communicate temporarily), disconnected the "phone call" and turned to speak to Drew.

"Nice driving. The monster truck was a great choice."

Drew had a self-satisfied grin plastered on his face and merely nodded. Indeed the anchor for the mega tank was a monster truck (a big-huge-mega-monster-truck in stunned this-is-bigger-then-a-house layman's terms).

The two entered the garage in the pit stop for what had once been the home base of Dante's now totaled motorcycle, courtesy of Drew. At the very back of the garage in between two tool chests a shimmering circle appeared swallowing the two motorists in a horizontal manner similar to the scanners method at the factory. And so the two disappeared into thin air bound for the root of their current troubles.

-0-

The sound booth for American Idol was a jumping beehive of activity. After pulling the maniac teen girl brandishing a mike stand (which they needed) the cream of the American Idol crop in brains, the elite, pulled all unnecessary personal off of the stage (all fans and starts) in order to set up a counter strategy know as Jericho.

"Alright, all speakers ready at max?" barked the leader of the sound booth.

"All speakers set."

"Nut secure?"

Here Sakura scowled. She had more guts then any of them! (And in the eyes of the leader of the sound booth and many of the elite and crew she was also the one most lacking common sense out of all of them).

"Nut secure!"

Sakura turned her head in a clear nonverbal act of defiance. She went from staring at the hustle and bustle of in the sound booth to looking at a solitary computer screen.

"Earplugs?"

"Earplugs check!"

At the mention of earplugs all of the crew hastily patted their ears to ensure the earplugs were secure and in place.

"Lights!"

All lights onstage went off.

"Move that sadist onstage, and…roll the tape."

At the first strains of the music a spot light came on highlighting a very familiar and dreaded singer to the hornets. The sound booth leader glanced from the stage to the nut back to the stage and back to the nut only to be amazed. The nut was gone!

"_I tried to discover…"_

The sound booth leader turned back to the stage silently congratulation Sakura on being able to escape the madness. The chorus hadn't even begun before the hornets imploded in agony. Ooh…fireworks…All the pyros smiled.

-0-

The virtual world was a strange place Riley decided. He had started out on the soccer field, then a group huddle and been called to plot the down with the humpty dumptees a.k.a. kankerlots. Finally Riley had been called away from the impending bombardment to the side lines to talk to his coach (done with much regret; imagine dodge ball against kankerlots using soccer balls), and then he was in a different virtual world lost.

Well, he wasn't lost per se. Riley knew where he was (Lyoko: desert sector), but he just didn't know exactly where in the desert sector he was. Riley was basically lost, but in familiar surroundings and with infinitely more efficient tools at his disposal especially when he compared his light saber to a soccer ball.

Riley wasn't the only Lyoko Warrior "lost". Drew, Sakura and even the mighty Dante found themselves in similar I'm-in-the-desert-sector-but-I-don't-know-precisely-where location dilemmas. All five as a group found themselves in the relatively same circumstances: in the desert sector, in Lyoko garb, and utterly alone without a monster or another human in sight.

Hallie was a bit ahead in the game then her friends. She actually knew exactly where she was in the desert sector down to the exact coordinate, and she also knew where the activated tower and all her friends were. All hail the awesome powers of the heart of Lyoko. So off she went putting one foot in front of the other confident of where her feet would lead her.

The desert sector had never seemed this big before Hallie mused silently. Thought the warm light beat down on the red sandy hues of the sector the warmth failed to soak into her skin and warm Hallie like true sunshine on earth did. The light did little to fill the broad expanse of the sector, the emptiness or the silence.

Only human individuals could meet these needs Hallie decided. It was a wonder her mother survived that period of time of her life on Lyoko before she met Hallie's father. To survive without any human contact all alone…and Dante too. Her mother's time in the virtual world had been a brief stint compared to Dante's. Thirteen years with no one but XANA for company. Hallie shivered and rubbed her forearms. Was it suddenly cold on Lyoko?

Hallie flinched as images flashed across her vision. Monsters…a hovering sphere and white noise filled her ears and then…falling…followed by utter blackness. Then it was all gone and Hallie released a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

_What was that?_ Hallie consciously asked herself while ignoring her subconscious response. _Echoes from a time that may come._

It was then Hallie decided that her project was worth the stress, anxiety, isolation, and frustration. In that state of mind Hallie found herself so confident that she made a rather foolish statement in her mind. _I can face any monster and any person right now._ Hallie signed her own death warrant with that roseate thought.

"Yo."

Hallie froze and mentally began to beat her head against a brick wall. _Calm down._ Recollecting her shattered confidence Hallie turned and smiled.

"Hey Riley,"

Then an awkward silence fell as the Jedi and the Elf just started at the ground, the sky, or the other person while waiting for said opposite person to speak.

Hallie broke the _awkward silence_ first.

"So how was your virtual reality experience?" Hallie queried.

Riley ignored the question now that the _ice was broken_, "What did I say about going on Lyoko alone?"

"Not to do it?"

"And?"

"Especially not to do it without proper supervision."

"So why are you on Lyoko again alone, Hal?"

Hallie's panic meter rose up at a notch at the mention of her real name. _This is bad._ It reminded her too much of her last conversation with Riley four nights ago.

"Technically, I'm not alone. You're here with me this time."

Riley shook his head. "I'm not staying. I have to find Sakura, and you're going to the tower."

"And you're not coming with me? I'm hurt by your lack of concern for my welfare."

Hallie had a feeling she had said the wrong thing. The look in Riley's eyes had changed. He wasn't angry, but he seemed to have gotten…softer. Uh-oh.

"Have you thought about what I said four days ago."

"_He's not the only one who cares for you,"_

"Yeah…and I do know what I'm doing. I even took your suggestion and wrote down if my actions would harm anyone physically, mentally or in any other way, and the answer is no. I even posted this list on my computer to remind me daily what I was doing was right. No one will get hurt from Program Exorcism."

Riley chuckled, "You probably should think of a name without all the negative connotations yours bears with it."

The awkward moment was gone leaving two bantering friends. Hallie shook her head, closed her eyes, and titled her ear before slowly turning around in a circle then stopping.

"Sakura is…a that-a-way," she concluded with a finger pointing south-southwest where she 'felt' Sakura like vibes. Hallie then refocused closer on the surrounding area about the Sakura vibes. "And Drew's with her!" she finished while perking up.

Riley sighed at the last bit of information. Before leaving Riley had a final word with Hallie.

"Don't go on Lyoko alone no matter what. It's too dangerous, Hal."

Hallie nodded which made Riley sigh in resignation when it became clear that Hallie probably wouldn't do as he wished her to.

"Take care of yourself," was all he said before turning away to separate his sister from his best friend. He acknowledged Hallie's soft parting _I will_ with a salute.

It was with mixed results that the parties of Sakura, Drew and Riley joined. The evil glare from big brother to prospective suitor didn't last long before monsters were sighted on the desert horizon. Personal vendettas were pushed aside momentarily as the three began to plot an ambush on the crabs. The importance of this ambush became magnified tenfold when an eagle-eyed Jedi Knight spotted a red tower on the not so distant horizon (coincidentally where the crabs were going).

Also two dots of color were spotted making their way toward the tower. One spot was black while the other was blue and both sharing the others company (with Sakura happy the two were alive and in the other's company).

Sakura crouched motionless with atop the mesa while crouching low to the ground to stay out of the sights of the oblivious crabs making their way toward the activated tower. The triple threat had moved with stealth and staked out an area between two neighboring mesas where a canyon was formed in the desert sector for the scene of their ambush. The three had spread out to different attack positions and waited for their prey to pass through the canyon.

Her hands twitched right above the sheaths for her daggers as she waited patiently in her crows nest view of the passage for the signal to attack. Eyes watchful Sakura's mind was occupied with Drew's warnings of the code of conduct for this particular stint on Lyoko.

"There can be no physical contact at all between any of us," he had said, "Rather unique circumstances have brought us to Lyoko. Our bodies instead of being in scanners are in our respective gaming theaters. If we lose all our life points we won't appear back in the scanners and quite possibly not back in our bodies.

"Basically our minds are on Lyoko, so no physical contact between any of us will be allowed unless you want to wake up with an extra voice in your head while people mourn over your voice's comatose vegetable body. So, no touching, and don't lose all of your life points. A mind is a terrible thing to lose."

Sakura understood him. Since it was their minds on Lyoko they had to be extremely careful. They didn't want to meld or fuse their minds in the slightest which meant extra caution was needed when even the slightest touch would serve as a connection between the minds to embarrassingly revealing experience. Having an unplanned heart to heart with Drew and the possibly of his discovering her conflicting feelings for him (those love-hate feelings she harbored) was not on her to do list. And Riley…he already had enough blackmail material on her; he didn't need more. And with the caution on losing all her life points, well, the body could not survive without the mind.

Up on her perch up high Sakura tensed as she watched Drew slowly raise his hand over to her left hidden in a semi-circle of stone boulders. This part of the desert sector had a bit more rocks then wasteland it seemed to her. Before her the parade of crabs ran closer to the canyon.

Sakura watched Drew's hand with the eyes of a hawk. Below her the crabs were moving closer, closer, closer…Drew's hand dropped.

Sakura jumped off her perch and fell onto the top of a crab's flat head while sinking her dagger's blade into its XANA's eye. Quick as a blink she was jumping onto the next crab even before her first victim could explode.

Drew and Riley jumped their own crab taking each of their crabs unawares. As the crabs skittered beneath them confused they were each put out of their misery by a well place light saber energy blade or a well aimed laser arrow.

All three yelled the same battle cry during their initial surprise attack.

"WOLVERINES!"

Riley withdrew his light saber and landed on the desert floor before spinning around and thrusting out a hand at an advancing crab using his force powers to send it flying. Grey eyes darted toward the tower's aura on the horizon and spotted red laser fire and a red tower aura.

Riley's attention was soon forced back to his current surroundings by Drew's warning shout. With a duck and a roll Riley dodged out of the path of an incoming crab lag and focused back on the battle at hand by cutting off the crab leg using his light saber.

In the course of five minutes Riley, Sakura, and Drew had destroyed a herd of crabs with nary a scratch or laser blast to be found on any of the three. Riley noted with satisfaction the changing of a red aura to a blue one and saw with a certain amount of relief a dab of blue and pink color emerging from the deactivated tower.

The triple threat began walking towards the deactivated tower to join up with their comrades. Drew pulled his arms behind his head and rested back on his arms while walking.

"Well," he started, "I guess we'll be returning to the past soon. Riley, you need to seriously try the Crazy Race VR game. It totally beats soccer."

Sakura raised a hand. "I'll try it," she said, "I was stuck as a judge on American Idol and some sadist started singing—oh fudge!"

"Fudge?" Drew asked confused.

Sakura was staring in horror at some point in front of the three. The three were noticeably closer to the deactivated tower a platform and a half away within clear viewing distance of all that may be occurring. Riley was immediately aware and on edge. His sister's use of fudge was an expression of utter shock, a harmless way to express it.

"Fudge, fiddlesticks, and other food objects," Sakura continued before pointing a trembling finger (a very rude thing to do) off at the alarming thing that had drawn forth her fudge.

Drew immediately caught sight of the scene and whistled in amazement. "Leapin' lizards."

_Dear Diary…_

"Is she insane?" Sakura asked in utter disbelief. Riley could only agree with his sister's questioning of Hallie's sanity when he caught sight of the rather startling scene.

_I did a really stupid thing today…_

Hallie was kissing Dante.

Then the return to the past swept over the Lyoko warriors.


	75. Chapter 75

Chapter 75:

**Chapter 75:**

**Author's note 4-25-08: Just to let you know I'm ****really**** unhappy with the 29 noobs who didn't review. TWO people did (so that is 29 out of 31) review so I won't do anything drastic like not update next week (you noobs are blessed that my band trip is two weeks from today instead of next week. I'm leaving for my band's trip to Dallas at 12 noon on the 10****th**** of May and will be back at 9pm on the 12****th****), but for the sake of my TWO reviews (myth buster and Hatter M.) I will continue to update. I just won't update week after next (because I won't have internet access all that weekend). Good day (or night depending on when I publish this)! (Whoa, FOURTEEN PAGES! 14! MY LONGEST POST YET! I had a lot to say.)**

**4-28-08: So, I offer my deepest and humblest apologies to everyone who has already read the chapter before I proof read it. Yeah, it took all of Saturday to type this chapter up, and I was so happy to have conquered this majot development in the story that I didn't proof read...and...yeah...I'm sorry. I'm a noob too. But I fixed it!**

* * *

-Excerpt from Hallie's diary-

_Dear diary,_

_I did a __really__ stupid thing today. For the record it was a butterfly kiss! And it didn't mean anything! Zilch! A peck! There and back again!_

_I'm…in trouble deep, serious trouble. I'm writing out my will and am planning a transfer of schools. I really should have listened to my parents._

"You know Hallie-pie, we can always home school you until your memories return."

"No dad, I want to go to school like a normal girl." _What was I thinking?!_

* * *

After parting paths with Riley, Hallie had soon crossed paths with Dante the second person on her list of people to avoid at all cost for the sake of her big mouth.

"Oh, hey Dantes," she had greeted lifting a hand in greeting to the far off black figure.

So the two had joined up and headed to the activated tower, but not before Dante had read Hallie the modified riot act for behavior on Lyoko. Then Hallie had a stupid epiphany which, after she deactivated that stupid tower, led her to ask a stupid question after which she did a very stupid thing. Her only saving grace was that the return to the past dragged her back in time to an hour before the buses left and fifteen minutes before breakfast would open.

If Hallie hadn't wanted to talk to before the incident on Lyoko, she really didn't want to talk to him now.

_I need to get out of here,_ she thought as she paced the rough perimeter of her room. _He's going to want to __**talk**__, and I'm not ready for that. Not yet._

"DENIAL!" roared a mini version of the faux Stern sibling as it appeared in a burst of flames on Hallie's shoulder, "You are in denial!"

"You must tell Dante how you feel and explain your actions to him. You mustn't run away from your responsibilities," intoned a lighter voice from a more ethereal persona of Hallie, "you must tell him the truth, and then you will be free."

Hallie stared at Psycho Stelly and Stellar Angel in horror. "I thought I was rid of you two months ago!"

Psycho Stelly cackled an evil laugh, "We will never leave you alone! As long as you have an overactive imagination and are under emotional duress, we will always be here to bring things into perspective!"

Hallie made up her mind quickly. Moving as an arrow shot from the bow, Hallie darted across the room (disrupting her subconscious concentration on Psycho Stelly and Stellar Anger to her immense relief), grabbed her cell phone, and high tailed it out of her room via the window route with one conclusion drawn from her mental musings.

While she would talk to Dante about the erm…incident ("The kiss! The kiss!" Psycho Stelly trumpeted. "Now, now," chided Stellar Angel) she wouldn't do it just then. She was going to reassemble her self-confidence and security before she basically told Dante she had initiated a butterfly kiss to bug him, literally. All the while (and all deep feelings of affection pushed aside) Hallie fought off the psycho and angel's unwanted commentary when she started to track down the principal to seriously discuss transfer options.

-0-

Ever since catching sight of Hallie and Dante's kiss, Sakura had anticipated Hallie's panicky side taking over shortly there after which could lead to some serious Dante aversion maneuvers. Hallie had not disappointed.

Hallie had not appeared at breakfast or check in, nor had she so much as texted Sakura for help in avoiding Dante. After not finding a trace of Hallie after breakfast with the efforts of Riley and Drew (who found the entire situation hilarious and was storing it in the back of his mind for a potential future movie plot) Sakura grew puzzled.

Yes, Hallie would probably be embarrassed especially since Hallie was the one who had initiated the kiss, but this was ridiculous! Sakura had no idea where or why this sudden cowardice had appeared.

And by all signs that Sakura had observed from Dante, he was looking for Hallie also. And for Hallie to be able to hide from Dante, she would have to be in an area devoid of modern technology practically out in the sticks to avoid the machine whisperer.

But Hallie couldn't hide forever, Sakura concluded as she shifted on her bus seat and waited for Hallie to board. There was no way Hallie would let her embarrassment keep her from something as awesome as the ninth and tenth grade virtual reality field trip.

Sakura waited counting heads and looking for a particular faux brunette wearing a grey mesh white forehead baseball hat with the curly pink scroll of Girly-girl to appear on the bus. The ninth graders loaded, but no Hallie. Chaperones loaded, but no Hallie. The bus driver came aboard (Sheesh Hal, how long are you going to wait?), but still, no Hallie. In between each of these Sakura was text messaging and attempting to call Hallie with no success. When the roll call started Sakura was flabbergasted to not hear _Stella Stern_ being called. After attempting one last call and text message, Sakura settled with the possibility Hallie had at the last minute switched buses onto the second ninth grade bus in order to avoid an interrogation.

_Well, if she was trying to avoid me she succeeded, but when I get off this bus…,_ Sakura ranted mentally as the bus doors closed, and the engine turned on.

-0-

Hallie congratulated herself on successfully avoiding Dante while she thought and rehearsed a speech on what to say when the two met again. She was gathering her courage, so to speak. Currently hanging upside down on a tree branch with all the blood rushing to her head, Hallie was fiddling around with her cell phone pushing random buttons. The battery was in her pocket successfully disconnected from her phone.

Cocking her wrist Hallie checked her wristwatch and nearly fell out of the tree in shock. The buses were going to leave in ten minutes! And she hadn't even eaten yet! Clambering down the tree Hallie roughly shoved her Girly-girl hat on and broke out in a sprint for the cafeteria.

Mrs. Crumble was nice; she liked Hallie, err…Stella really. Mrs. Crumble would give her food. Racing through the trees with the campus coming into sight, Hallie began to regret going off to be alone.

The juniors and seniors were looking forward to a quiet day with all the freshmen and sophomores off on a field trip. A nice, quiet, serene day without loud, rowdy, immature noobs (sound familiar?) hanging about. The plans of a nice, quiet, serene breakfast was offset as one infamous freshmen brunette slammed open the cafeteria doors and raced to the cash register in the lunch line. Nothing was audible between her loud panting, but the lunch lady, one Mrs. Crumble, didn't need words to know the exhausted girl's request.

"Miss Stern," she mildly lectured as she pressed a warm bundle wrapped in aluminum foil in Miss Stern's hand, "you are late,"

Stella nodded her head and tried to rasp out something, but Mrs. Crumble beat her to the punch. "Shoot girl, if you stand there jawin' you'll miss you bus, now get!"

Stella left the lunchroom with the same haste she possessed when she entered.

_I'm gonna be late!_ She moaned internally. The cafeteria was halfway across the campus from the bus pick up point.

"Run Stella, run!" cheered Psycho Stelly and Stellar Angel from the sidelines up in her mind. A light bulb suddenly turned on with a brilliant ding(!) in Stella's mind. _Go modern technology! _Cheered Stella's support group. Stella whipped out her cell phone and jammed in the battery pack before waiting anxiously for her cell phone to boot up

"C'mon, c'mon." she muttered as the screen lit up and maneuvered around her phone until she reached the text screen.

**H-O-L-D-T-H-E-B-U-S-!** She typed frantically before sending the text to Sakura and starting off again towards the buses at a sprint.

-On the bus with Sakura-

Steven had decided to pop up earlier in the trip then anticipated. He plopped himself right next to Sakura in the vacant seat Stella was supposed to be sitting in.

"That seat is taken," Sakura said coolly giving Steven the evil eye. If looks could kill…

"For who, that Stella girl?" Steven tossed back with a smug manner radiating from his being, "as far as I can tell, she is not on this bus, and this seat does not have a name on it."

1….

_He's trying to get a rise out of you. He's trying to get a rise out of you. He's trying to get a rise out of you._

Sakura sucked in a breath and clenched her teeth while attempting to keep her ice queen exterior up.

"Well that's good. That means you have no claim to the seat either," she cooed back with a venomously sweet look in her eyes.

2…

Sakura knew she could out talk Steven if she needed to, and she could also use several painful methods of discouragement if needed. _But that's not the point. The point is I'm going to control my temper._

3….

Sakura proceeded to ignore Steven even as the braggart continued in his newly acquired loudmouth ways enduring as she fiddled with her cell phone. With a beep Sakura became aware of a new text message. She wasn't the only one who noticed. In noticing the failure of his futile methods of stirring the stoic Stern female, Steven resorted to tactics of a more bullying nature. One second the cell phone was in Sakura's hands, and the next it was held aloft in the air courtesy of Steven far above Sakura's height.

"Give it back!" Sakura demanded as Steven perused her cell phone account in depth while holding the phone out of her reach even when jumping. A magnificent game of keep away was occurring in the aisle of the bus.

"It's a text message," Steven announced to the bus, "From one _Halinor B._ Hmm…your sister is going to be so hurt when she finds out you've replaced her in the best friend department."

"Steven, give—" Sakura discontinued her thought process at the mention of a text message from Hallie. Summoning up all her poise, politeness and graciousness, Sakura calmly restated her plea. "Steven, would you please be as kind as to return to me my cell phone?" she inquired the image of a lady.

By now the surrounding students on the bus had become aware of the mini drama unfolding in the seats around them and had started to voice their disapproval to Steven's actions.

"Give it back."

"Yeah Steven, give Sakura her phone back."

The clamor grew to a point where some of the oblivious chaperones' sitting at the front of the bus began to take notice. Steven smiled a small smile and nodded his head before returning the phone to Sakura.

The minute it was in her hands Sakura was searching for that text message Hallie had sent her. After a fruitless search it dawned on her.

"You," Sakura growled at Steven, "what did you do?"

"To what?" he asked innocently.

"Where is the text message Halinor sent me?"

"Hmm…let me see…at text message from…oh yeah! I deleted it."

Sakura was struck dumb. _How DARE he! That message could have been important! What business does he have in deleting __my__ messages and messing with __my__ phone?!_ But what she could manage vocally was a cold and quiet statement.

"I **hate** you."

One look at her embittered, wrathful gaze and Steven finally learned the hard truth that he had crossed one to many lines and placed one to many straws on the camel's back.

"What is going on?!" came a rather ticked off bus driver's voice.

"Nothing," Sakura replied before taking her seat, "absolutely nothing."

From then on Sakura ignore Steven.

-0-

The jingling of Zip-a-dee-doo-dah caused a halt in Hallie's mad dash for the bus. Ordinarily she wouldn't have stopped for anything, but that tone was her text message alert button. Hallie hastily pulled up the message.

**X-Attack. Meet at coordinates 47.05 degrees S, 34 degrees E on Lyoko**

Hallie sunk to her knees and let out one sheer groan of frustration. Why did XANA have to attack now? It wasn't like she could do anything about it! She had a bus to catch.

Hallie sighed and examined her surroundings. She was pretty close to the dorms meaning she would be able to fish out her Dad's hover board (which she kept), and knowing Dantes, he would probably be either en route or at the factory already giving the two an opportunity to talk. So…off to the factory Hallie went with one final journal entry:

_Well, I'm pretty much not going on that field trip which I really, really, really want to go on. Stupid XANA attacking. No signs of the tower yet, but if Dante says XANA's attacking then XANA's attacking. Dante's rarely wrong if ever. It gives him a slightly superior I'm invincible attitude (inserts a happy voice) not for long! I promise to write about the attack after I return from Lyoko. Now, I must go and kick XANA's butt. HYAH!_

_-H.E.B_

With a groan and a release of the air brakes, all four buses in the caravan to Chronos Inc's newest virtual reality arcade center pulled away from the school. All four Lyoko warriors were on board.

-0-

"Hello-o is anybody here?" echoed a voice across the desert floor's platforms, "Drew? Sakura? Riley? Dantes? Where are you guys?"

It was utterly odd. When Hallie had arrived at the factory with her hover board in tow, no one had been in the control room or the scanner room. Even a brief insight onto the desert sector had proved negative of life forms, onscreen at least.

"_Don't go on Lyoko no matter what. It's too dangerous."_

Hallie had been antsy. She had scarfed down her breakfast taco, tapped her foot waiting for five minutes before she finally set a timer to stall the scanner and was virtualized onto Lyoko's desert sector at the specific coordinates given to her in the text message. There was no more life on Lyoko then there was in the factory back on earth. Plus, Hallie couldn't sense an active tower.

_This is weird, very weird…maybe Dante just wanted to talk._ Again with the roseate thoughts. _But…then why don't I sense him on Lyoko? Maybe it's a side effect…_

Hallie eyed her surroundings with a critical eye. She was in the middle of a sand dune valley._ Well, if I'm going to wait I might as well practice._

_Alright, one energy sphere…_ A crackle of pink sparks of energy appeared, disappeared, reappeared and solidified in shape. Slowly, but surely it lifted off of Hallie's outstretched palm and went to float by her ear.

The exercise was a test of mental control and concentration especially considering the energy spheres that Hallie were creating were the typed that normally exploded.

One little, two little, three little energy spheres,

Four little, five little, six little energy spheres,

Seven little, eight little, nine little energy spheres,

Oh, look there are some monsters….

The only warning Hallie had that something was amiss was a deep bass rumble before a horde of XANA's monsters swarmed around her from apparently out of nowhere. The sand dunes shook as sand began streaming off of tall solid structures, and the ground cracked in roughly cubic shapes. From around the dunes tiny sounds of foot steps and the whirring of machinery could be heard along with the steady buzz that filled the air.

Suddenly, the cold truth was revealed to Hallie as she watched in a frozen moment of peace the crabs standing where the sand dunes had been, blocks emerging from their underground cocoons, the line of kankerlots that had penetrated the sand dune valley, and finally two swarms of hornets. It reminded Hallie of her first reentrance back to Lyoko after her almost two year absence when she met her welcoming committee, but this…this wasn't a welcoming committee. It was a death squad.

Three things happened. One, Hallie's mental grip on her energy spheres slipped. Two, a magnificent explosion whipped through the desert valley destroying all monsters within a five foot radius (while most kankerlots and blocks were out of the picture, the hornets and crabs remained). Three, with the explosion as a cover, Hallie high tailed it out of the valley for the closest tower wherever that may be.

-0-

The bus ride over for the sophomores was entertaining. Three of the guys on bus three (the same bus Riley and co. were riding, but the guys in subject aren't Riley and co.) were benefiting from the results of having a broken air conditioner on the bus namely the open hatch on the interior of the bus. Gummy bears were currently being tossed vertically up out of the hatch to be caught in the tosser's mouth if possible. Some skill was required so that the gummy bear wouldn't end up road kill or a permanent feature of the carpet. Many picture phones and visual recording devices were committing this event into their machine's memory to later be published for the entire world to see on the web with Drew being one of them.

He was stopped midway through saving his pictures to his phone when a text message icon popped up. The message wasn't addressed to Drew, but rather someone else…

"Yo, Dante!" Drew hollered over the sophomore class's chatter, "You've got a text." And with that announcement Drew passed his phone across the aisle to Dante's solitary aisle seat.

**DANTE,**

**DO YOU KNOW WHERE HALLIE IS?**

Dante Shrugged and passed the phone back across the way to Drew. He had last seen Hallie on Lyoko in the desert sector at 3:14 pm, 15 seconds, and 92 milliseconds. Ordinarily the drive to reach the virtual arcade would take two hours, but…there had been a few delays on the first trip up to the arcade (traffic jam, construction, a construction causing another traffic jam, three fender benders, the broken air conditioner, fixing the broken air conditioner, one of the buses breaking down when the brakes broke causing the bus to pitch off road through a fence into a cow pasture, towing the bus, fixing the bus's brakes, rounding up the cows…).

Dante's mind was a little preoccupied counting down to the time he would be able to talk to Hallie next (lunch at 12:18 pm, 4 seconds, 73 milliseconds; before the cow incident) which would be in 4 hours, 13 minutes, 96 seconds and 27 milliseconds…So Dante's great brain was a tiny bit obsessed. He was currently debating whether to give Hallie a stern tongue lashing (for breaking the rules he had so carefully explained and justified to her on Lyoko just like he had to Drew before they had parted paths), pretend it never happened or…get his first girlfriend.

Something else was bothering Dante. Not in an emo I have issues way, but in a curiosity that killed the cat and satisfaction brought it back way. Hallie had asked him a peculiar question before initiating a rather public display of affection. _Hey Dantes, can I ask you something?_ Her follow up question had thoroughly confused him. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, and Hallie had been avoiding him all morning. Overall Dante wasn't being as attentive as he should with his surroundings. A thought occurred to Dante.

"Wait," he said turning back to Drew, "who sent you that text?"

Drew shrugged having already deleted the message, "It was probably Sakura. I can call her to double check."

"Do that," Dante said before sitting back in his seat. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was most assuredly not right. A fog had covered him, a haze of some sort.

**DO YOU KNOW WHERE HALLIE IS?**

Across the aisle Drew's voice dropped as his expression turned to one of perplexity.

"Yeah," he said, "do that." Then Drew ended the call. "Hallie's not on the bus with Sakura. Apparently, Hallie texted Sakura, but the text was deleted before Sakura could view it."

The haze around Dante darkened into a storm cloud. Riley, who had been watching the whole proceedings, for the first time spoke up, "It could be Hallie was texting Sakura to say she was on the other freshmen bus."

Drew nodded, "Yeah, that's what Sakura said. She's going to call a friend she has that's on board the second freshmen bus to see for sure, then she'll call me back…" Drew caught sight of Dante's unsettle look and laughed, "C'mon, don't be an emo prince Dantes. Brooding is not the right look for you, but I'll take quiet brooding over angst angry brooding any day. She's on that bus; she has to be."

Dante sat back ready to face the beginnings of their first delays in the journey to the virtual reality arcade, the traffic jam. He was not wholly convinced of Drew's statement though. There were to many unknowns.

**DO YOU KNOW WHERE HALLIE IS?**

-?-

Calculating narrowed green eyes observed the monsters around her. Slowly the green orbs moved from left to right as Hallie assessed her situation. She was in pretty dire straights. Not a laser bolt had connected with her Hallie was proud to say, but that wouldn't matter soon.

Eight mega tanks, **eight**, surrounded her. She was the vertex for the circular formation they implemented, and all were waiting and ready to charge their lasers to blast her to oblivion. She wasn't even counting the two back up mega tanks nor the crab battalion stationed between any gaps that appeared between the eight mega tanks. 0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees, 180 degrees, 225 degrees, 270 degrees, and 315 degrees were all covered by a mega tank. A crab was stationed at 15 degrees, 60 degrees, 105 degrees, 195 degrees, 240 degrees, 285 degrees, and 330 degrees. She was completely surrounded and outnumbered. But that was the thing about Hallie; she was stubborn.

Take away her memories, she'll return to the same graduating class she had shared prior to the accident. Leave her in the dark about Lyoko, she'd be kidnapped and kicked back into the fight to save the world. Forbid her from going on Lyoko, she'd learn how to master the super computer instead. Say she's a normal Lyoko warrior, she'd deactivate a tower. Say she's only allowed on Lyoko with company, and she'd go exploring by herself at the first chance.

Surround her with sixteen of XANA's most formidable original creations, and she would say, "_I have not yet begun to fight."_ But none the less Hallie was in a bit of a pickle.

_This will be…interesting…?_

Hallie's fingers twitched in anticipation not willing to tip her hand too soon but wary of any noise or movement the mega tanks and crabs could make. She couldn't jump up in the air. The crabs would readjust their aim and the hornets would come in to join the action, plus there was no guarantee the mega tank blasts would reach their growth limit before hitting her, plus she had to think of the two reinforcements.

No, it would have to be something a lot simpler, something efficient, something crazy, so crazy that Hallie would walk out of this alive, but not her executioners. She needed a last line of defense. Bingo.

As if all who were part of the circle shared the same mind, all seventeen points of the circle moved simultaneously. Now those who survived, and those who did not were left to the speed of their "draw". A red blast of light engulfed the circle.

-0-

Dante snapped to attention immediately. He knew where Hallie was. Already his mind was racing a hundred miles past infinity as he assessed catalogued the situation.

Hallie was on Lyoko, alone, and she had used her last line of defense, Dante's gift in the form of a bracelet. She was in deep trouble if she had to use that present.

-0-

Hallie whistled in disbelief. All the crabs and mega tanks were, like, frozen. Not with ice or anything, but they weren't moving. A red circular shockwave had emitted out of the bracelet shooting out, and when it passed through the monsters, it was as if someone had pushed the pause button in a movie. All the little beasties froze. Then the bracelet disintegrated.

-0-

Drew hung up the cell phone and opened his mouth to relay the news that no, Hallie wasn't on the second freshmen bus, but he was cut off by Dante.

"She's not on the second freshmen bus."

"Yeah, wait. How did you know?"

"Where is she?" Riley asked.

With one word all three guys were tense. "Lyoko."

Drew groaned and ran his hands through his hair at the weight that was so suddenly on his shoulders, "That's just…why? Sakura won't be happy, and then she's going to somehow pin this all on me."

Riley's entire countenance grew grim. He had told her not to…

"Hallie has used an item that signaled her position on Lyoko to me. The item works a bit like a stun ray in those sci fi movies; it paralyzes monsters of XANA it encounters in its given radius when used. It has a one time use policy. Hallie just used it on **sixteen** monsters."

The atmosphere of the four seats the three teens occupied grew somber.

"What are we going to do?" Drew finally ventured to ask.

"Get off the bus."

-0-

Sakura started out of a slight doze by another call from her cell phone. Sakura sighed after she checked the number; Drew must have been feeling really chatty today.

"Hello—"

"Sakura, this is Dante. Whatever you do, don't panic."

"Uh, hi?"

"Alright, listen up and listen carefully. When the signal goes off head to the front of the bus and exit. The doors will be open. After that head for the factory as fast as you can."

Sakura glanced outside at the unmoving scenery outside her window and at the crabby and growling anarchists around her.

"Alright, but FYI the factory is a ten minute drive away from here, two miles which will take at least thirty minutes plus to walk."

"Sakura, a mile can be run in under six minutes. We have to run two miles in ten."

"Why?"

"Hallie's in trouble on Lyoko, alone."

Those six words put Sakura into red alert mode. So when the smoke bomb some noob of a freshmen smuggled onto the bus went off, she was on her feet at the front of the tidal wave of students, off the bus, and off in a loping run heading for the factory. Not too far behind her were Riley, Dante, and Drew.

-0-

Things were not going well on Lyoko. Sure, Hallie had added her own version of Stone hedge made up of her frozen adversaries namely the crabs and mega tanks to the scenery (modern art). The two hordes of hornets were gone also (energy net: Dante was always telling Hallie to be creative), and all that were left to Hallie's immediate knowledge were the two mega tanks. But those two mega tanks were fraying the thin string of Hallie's patience.

For three minutes she had been raining energy spheres on the two without fruitation. The mega tanks would either dodge with their nifty speed skills, or her energy spheres would fail to penetrate their closed steely hull.

Perched up and above on a stone spire stretching into the skies she couldn't descend now. Those two mega tanks had her effectively stuck up on the head of the spire like a cat in a tree. If she descended, she'd be shot, not the scenario she was hoping for. Steeling her resolve, Hallie began to think creatively again.

Slowly pink energy formed into the contours of a bow and arrow. Drawing the bow, pulling the feathers to her anchor point by her face Hallie aimed while waiting. As she waited the point of her arrow began to glow, and the glow increased over time until the final pink glow shone like a star in the heavens.

Finally, Hallie released the arrow and at the sight of the arrow missing the mega tank by a yard, she angrily stomped the level base of the rock spire. Releasing her hold on the bow, the pink construction released into a pink dust of glittery sparkles.

_Did you really expect perfection on your first attempt of shooting the arrow? Alright, new plan._

-0-0-

Sakura was fading. She was about to hit that wall where she would have no energy left in her body to even move. Maybe during her mad search of the cafeteria to locate Hallie, she should have paused a moment for a bite to eat. A novel thought. Now as she labored down the street slowing down with each clomping stride, Sakura also wished she had worn a pair of sensible tennis shoes not her flat soled converses.

Two hands latched onto both of Sakura's arms, and she could feel herself being tugged along and accelerating. _WHOA…oh…Riley…Drew_ With Riley's hand on her left forearm, and Drew's hand on her right forearm, Sakura dug deep and continued picking up her pace to match theirs. The three pounded down the side walk dodging pedestrian traffic with the factory only a two and a half minutes run away.

-0-0-

Hallie pivoted on her foot and danced away from the mega tank's blast. She had grown tired of the failed long range assault and had decided to fight up close one on one with the mega tanks. Now she moved with a fluid grace dodging the mega tanks' pulse attacks.

_Too close,_ her mind thought as she pivoted again just in time to be caught between but thankfully not in two perfectly parallel laser pulses from the mega tanks. _It's time to change the scenery,_ Hallie thought before thrusting out her hands. Deep in her eyes a white spark appeared and a circular piece of the desert sector deconstructed itself directly beneath one of the mega tanks. Soon only one mega tank was left for Hallie to deal with while the other plummeted down into the digital sea.

Hallie turned to face the remaining mega tank hands crackling with the amount of excessive amount of energy she was calling to them. Suddenly the energy dissipated.

_What the…go! Shoot! Fly! Energy Sphere! Something!_ No matter how hard she tried she couldn't summon her energy spheres or just plain energy for that matter. It was strangely like that time on Lyoko when she encountered the time traveling Lyoko warriors. Hallie looked up at the mega tank with new emotions in her eyes replacing the stubbornness and determination that once resided there. They were confusion and fear.

Hallie was utterly alone on Lyoko one on one with a mega tank, and she couldn't attack. Then she heard the white noise, and her mind went blank.

-0-0-

Sakura let out a choked cry of relief when she caught sight of the bridge spanning the river to the island the factory was built on. All the spirits of the group seemed to soar at the sight of their destination, and the four warriors sprinted across the bridge to the factory's entrance. It was only a minute later when they were in the elevator that a sense of seriousness returned to the group.

"Drew, I need you at the super computer to be our eyes. Sakura, Riley, we're going in after Hallie to manually remove her from Lyoko. That and to eliminate whatever opposition she's facing."

All three nodded, and Drew left the elevator when it opened into the supercomputer room as the Stern siblings and Dante descended into the scanner room. Drew was the one who first faced the reality that the four hadn't run fast enough. That the four were too late, and that their efforts were futile. That they were too late, too late, to save Hallie.

Drew leapt into a verbal commentary of the situation for the three below in the scanner room even as they stood waiting for their scanners to get into action.

"She's on the desert sector immobilized. There are sixteen stationary monsters in a roughly circular position south-southeast of your incoming landing point. You guys have got to work fast. Some upgraded, twisted, newfangled version of the scyphozoa has Hallie in its tentacles, and there's not a lot of brain left for it to drain!"

The three touched down running in a forward charge onto Lyoko weapons drawn. A grey sphere the size of a soccer ball held Hallie suspended over a circular hole in the desert platform holding her by translucent tentacles that stretched from the grey sphere's base to entwine around Hallie's body before stopping at her head.

Before the three could reach her, before the three had crossed half the distance separating the two parties, before the first weapon could be launched, the tentacles that held Hallie aloft disappeared, and Hallie's limp, still form plummeted through the hole straight down. Straight into the digital sea.

Then the reckoning came. A hot blue energy blade from the light saber annihilated the last remaining mega tank. A numb weapons mistress attacked along side a red eyed demon the sphere that had brought about their friend's doom.

Up in the control room Drew was snapped out of his shock when several high pitched beeping sounds erupted from the super computer assaulting his eardrums. A text box popped up on the screen

Do you wish to devirtualize?

Yes – No

Drew clicked the yes option with some wild hope that maybe it would undo what had occurred. Instead something much different occurred on the screen when the devirtualizing option ran an event considered impossible.

The supercomputer began to hum as the trigger for its latest and newest downloaded program was run for its maiden voyage. Down in the scanner room one of the scanners hummed as it devirtualized its occupant before opening with a hiss with the release of the pressurized air.

A bewildered Dante was in the scanner, bewildered because he had been devirtualized against his will off of Lyoko.

* * *

_If I gave you something, would you look after it for me?_

* * *

**DO YOU KNOW WHERE HALLIE IS?**

* * *

Point to XANA.


	76. Chapter 76

I'M GOING TO DALLAS AND DON'T HAVE TO UPDATE FOR TWO WEEKS! (WAR WHOOP!)

**Authoress Note 5-3-08: (in a sing song voice) I don't update for two weeks. I don't update for two weeks. La la lala la la. I'm going to Dallas; I'm going to Dallas; Yeehaw! (Ends singing) **

**So yeah, I'm going to Dallas next week. Read my authoress note from last chapter for the entire 411. I have my band concert this Tuesday, and we're playing the Lion King (not some cheesy two page, three minute piece, but an actual arrangement from the sheet music of the Lion King that is six pages long, my part at least, and lasts ten minutes!)! **

**Okay, FYI: Franz Hopper is dead. I'm sorry, but it's true. Two, I listened to the song **_**Be Prepared**_** from the Lion King multiple times while typing up this chapter. And yes, I actually proof read this chapter this time. I'm so excited. (I'm going to Dallas; I'm going to Dallas…)**

**Chapter 76**

* * *

_Where do we go from here?_

_How did it disappear?_

_It's hard to see _

_With our own eyes these times_

_We've been hypnotized_

_Hypnotized by Pillar_

* * *

All the scans run turned up void. No trace of Halinor Belpois could be found in all of Lyoko. The atmosphere in the control room was beyond description. It was quiet.

Somehow, sometime in the midst of the four teen's quiet reflection someone found the courage to whisper a question lingering in all of the Lyoko warrior's hearts.

"Now what?"

Someone else had the presence of mind to answer.

"We call her parents."

The other two were silent, silent as the grave.

-0-

Later that afternoon when the parents arrived, the supercomputer was vacant of all personal. All four teens had retreated to the wall. Riley was sitting by his sister, for once not insisting on personal space, with one of his hands was laced in hers as she leaned against her rather uncomfortable looking brother seeking what comfort the other would give. Drew seemed…confused and pensive as if waiting for something. Later when asked by Sakura what on earth he was waiting for his response would prove to be: the full impact, that and time.

When the elevator doors opened and out stepped the Belpois's and company, the Sterns, an unspoken consent was made at the adult's arrival. The adults, for the moment, held the baton for Lyoko. There was too much hurt and grief that needed to be healed, to be dealt with before the teens would take Lyoko back. If they ever did.

The four teens went back to school. No ruckus was raised at their disappearance. The talk and rumors of where the four had disappeared to during the field trip was quickly replaced by the fresh news that Stella Stern, little sister to Riley and Sakura Stern, had transferred out of the school. To where was uncertain. Other rumors went about that Stella's transfer wasn't a transfer, but a cover up for a suspension or even…an expulsion.

Though no concrete evidence could be found to support these rumors, they still persisted as a tale to be told in the locker rooms, in the corners of the corridors, and other places spoken in whispers. It all went to prove that a tale was more entertaining then the truth.

Off the school front XANA was still active. Evil never sleeps, but it wasn't the second generation acting against XANA; it was the first. There was only one person left with the Code Lyoko code, Aelita. Whenever XANA attacked it was Aelita on Lyoko with Jeremy at the controls supervising the escort and fights just like the good old times, only in sadder circumstances.

It became a daily occurrence to at some time in the day see Dante wearing a pair of sunglasses indoors, but the sunglasses would come off as the need for concealment passed. For each and every time XANA activated a tower, Aelita deactivated it.

It wasn't healthy being that close to the supercomputer and Lyoko so soon after another loss of another loved one and family member of Aelita's to XANA. It wasn't healthy for Aelita or Jeremy being so close to the computer that had consumed their daughter with no trace of her to be found in the digital sea or any of the remaining sectors on Lyoko. A line had to be drawn so that the parents could heal also. It was a time for action.

Dante was snapped to reality by a sharp rap on his door. Not even bothering to change his body position of being sprawled across his bed face gazing at the ceiling like it was the Sistine Chapel, Dante replied.

"Come in."

The door swung open on well oiled hinges (all the better for sneaking off at night to the factory) and in stepped one Professor Jeremy Belpois being careful not to intrude beyond the threshold of Dante's dorm room.

In response to the newest presence in his room with one of the people that no love was lost on, Dante sat up and dangled his feet off the bed and onto the floor as Dante sized up his unexpected visitor.

"May I help you?"

"I am going to be quite frank with you. My wife and I are leaving."

An uninterested silence filled the room as the statement failed to move Dante. Jeremy not having it in his character to let a lack of response get to him continued.

"My wife is not well emotionally and needs a change of scenery. To be quite blunt when the next tower activates, we won't be there to deactivate it. It will be your responsibility deal with it as you wish."

"Professor, you may not have noticed, but I don't deactivate towers."

"Mr. Millard, you hold in your possession the means of halting an attack of XANA and disabling it. Whether you choose to or not is ultimately your decision, but right now I'm here to tell you the relief pitcher is out. The break is over. XANA does not rest, and it is time for you to hop back into the game."

Jeremy turned to leave and only halted long enough to leave Dante with these parting words. "My daughter cared very deeply for you, remember that."

Then the former boss-man was gone. Dante re-sprawled himself back on his bed and closed his eyes.

-0-

"Did you tell him?" Aelita queried as soon as her husband sat down in the vehicle. Jeremy was silent as he turned the keys in the ignition bringing the engine purring to life along with the faint strains of Tchaikovsky from the radio.

"Well?"

"Yes and no."

"Jeremy, he deserves to know!"

Jeremy pulled out of the visitor parking lot and onto the road heading for the airport.

"If Mr. Millard is the young man our daughter thinks he is, then he will have no trouble learning the truth on his own."

-0-

The library was quiet as usual which was just how the librarian liked it. Perched in bastion behind the library desk, the librarian held court commanding the entire library and holding all the library's visitors spellbound in silence. Her steely gaze would silence any voice to a whisper and freeze any shenanigans with a glare more potent then a gorgon's.

The air of silence gave adage and credence to the rumors spoken about Kaddic High's library; its secrets, mysteries all waiting to be revealed for those who sought it. Sakura was seeking it.

Armed with a flashlight, granola bars, a water bottle, and the handy dandy cell phone, Sakura intently scanned the titles on the shelf searching for the particular title that her source had told her would unlock a secret of the library. She was looking for Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and was having quite a time locating it.

Sakura couldn't believe she was doing this. Looking for a secret passage in the library. Even now as the Ste's changed to Stu's and with no sign of her quarry appearing, Sakura persevered like Juan Ponce de Leon looking for the fountain of youth and Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada for El dorado. Like Lewis and Clark looking for the Northwest Passage. She was hurting but persevering. Doubtful but determined. Sakura was taking a leaf out of Hallie's book, quite literally. She was exploring.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura turned after steeling herself. If it was Steven, she would have no qualms about beaming him over the head with her water bottle.

"Looking for a book," she replied simply, relaxing slightly. It was only Drew.

Drew nodded his gaze taking in every feature and detail of his friend; the no nonsense pony tail, jeans, boots, a long sleeved shirt, gloves, and the back pack…

"I'm glad to see you're eating," he commented leaning against a bookcase.

Sakura shrugged, "I am hungry, and therefore I eat."

"Then you must not have been particularly hungry these past couple of days." Drew quipped before deeming it time to change the subject while the sailing was still smooth, "So…do you mind if I recommend a book to you? You'll find it worthy of a read. It's full of adventure, vivid imagery and is a couple of hundred years old, a classic."

Sakura shrugged and followed Drew placidly through the maze of shelves until he stopped in front of one bookcase resting against a wall. This section of the library was shielded from sight, enclosed in the farthest corner of the library, and at a point where it was the farthest away from all entrances, exits, and the librarian's desk.

"Fifth shelf up, toward the middle, and it's the green book with the gold scrollwork." Drew commented stepping back to let Sakura's eyes dart up the shelf looking for his recommendation.

"You know, you could just tell me the title I'm looking f—" Sakura cut herself off as she caught sight of the book. She gave Drew an accusatory glare, "You knew."

At his sheepish smile she continued, "You little bugger."

"I wouldn't be calling anyone little now, midget," Drew countered.

"How did you know?"

"How did you know?" Drew quipped in reply.

Sakura sighed as her eyes turned misty, "From Hal's diary."

Curiosity tweaked, Drew looked at her intrigued, "Hallie had a diary? May I read it?"

"No!" Sakura exclaimed, "A diary is a personal and private belonging that is not for the leisure reading of bored teenagers."

"Then why are you reading it?"

"Because Hallie…was my best friend."

"She was my friend to, Sakura," Drew replied quietly.

Sakura sighed and refused to reply any further. Instead she reached up and tugged at the spine for Robert Louis Stevenson's classic. With a creak and a faint groan of machinery and clockwork the bookcase seemed to shudder before a deep click could be heard behind it. In front of her the bookcase remained unchanged.

"That's it?" she asked in disbelief.

Then a cool wave of air touched Sakura's face bringing with it the smell of dust and cobwebs. Sakura turned her head and saw where once a portion of the wall had been there was a door way leading into a dark and barely lit passageway.

"It's real, She was right. The library does have a secret passageway,"

And then the tears started falling. Drew stood by awkwardly, unsure and uncomfortable as he watched his teammate's distress.

"…eh, Sakura?"

Sakura swiped at her face with the back of her hand while producing a weak and questioning, "mhmm?"

"Do you want to explore it?"

Sakura gave a weak nod before digging out her flashlight and snapping on the brilliant beam. She stepped into the passage with Drew behind her.

"How far does this thing go?"

"Into the woods…"

-0-

It was satisfying to have a goal fulfilled. The disposal of the key had been disappointing in the end but effective. Now for XANA tt was only a matter of time and waiting. With the key's influence removed from his son, and the key's annoying thorns of parents gone too, the negative influences were gone from X.2's life leaving him more open and receptive to XANA's positive influences.

With enough pokes and prods his son would be home. There was nothing left on earth for X.2. With something close to a human's malicious grin, XANA started the turning of the wheels to bring his son home for good. The process would be accomplished one activated tower at a time.

-0-

The annoying sprint ring tone echoed across the campus. It echoed through the dark unused passages throughout the school and echoed out into the light of the forest. It echoed through the boy's dormitory until the call was connected.

"Yo,"

"What's up?"

"Hello?"

"I'm going to destroy an active tower on Lyoko. All who want to trash a few of XANA's minions meet me at the factory." Dante didn't need to say anything further. They were all at the factory waiting when Dante arrived.

The battle had been quick with plenty of monsters to go around for all the eager beaver Lyoko Warriors. There were four ready and eager takers for this arrangement, ready to decimate any challenge XANA would throw at them.

It wasn't much of a challenge regardless of the numbers which was disappointing. There had been kankerlots and a few blocks which had been semi exhilarating when they began to shoot rings of fire at them, but the monsters were soon crushed and all the excitement passed.

Drew stared wistfully at the scenery in the forest sector. "I'm going to miss the towers addition to the landscape. Somehow, Lyoko won't be the same without them."

Though heard, Drew's comment didn't receive much in terms of replies. Sakura and Riley were staring off into their own worlds. Drew shrugged and gazed at the red tower aura waiting for its inevitable destruction.

_No, I'm coming! I'll be there, I promise. Don't deactivate the tower!_

Inside the tower Dante stared blankly at the screen hovering in front of him with little to no emotion. His emotions were being repressed; he found it easier to not deal with the strange sensations nowadays. It would also be much easier to not deal with the situation of the tower if a certain Belpois female and her professor were here to deal with Lyoko, but they had flown the coop leaving Dante with the responsibility of Lyoko.

He had now figured out exactly why Hallie had been so desperate to keep him from deactivating towers or really destroying the towers with Code XANA. She had seen the shadow it caused to grow in him; how it crept over him.

When had she first noticed? Was it back at their shout off in the hall of illusions? When his control over XANA's monsters deepened? Or maybe…just maybe she had noticed back when he first gained unlimited access to the Code XANA code right before she came clean about her true identity.

Even as the shadow of his father grew unnoticed to his observations, she had noticed. She had noticed how it affected his mood, making him deserve the title of emo prince. But she had always been there as a living counter to the shadow growing inside him. She had acted as a stabilizer.

But now she was gone. The light countering his darkness had been snuffed out, and it didn't seem real.

With a grim resolution and a horrid peace made within, Dante placed a hand on the screen in front of him.

Name: The Prodigy

_I'm sorry Hal. I wish I could be the kind of person you wanted me to be. I wish didn't have this power to destroy, but that isn't my choice anymore._

Code:

Dante waited for the red letters signing the death warrant of the tower to appear. He waited to see the code that signed his soul's death warrant to appear, but…it didn't appear.

At first nothing appeared, and then something unexpected happened. Dante could swear he heard an echo of a somewhat surreal and light hearted laughter before suddenly different, strange comments he had once heard in the past begin to make sense at the sight in front of him.

_I will do anything to help you Dantes. Remember that…_

…_Hey Dantes, can I ask you something? If I gave you something, would you take care of it for me?_

And suddenly he wasn't completely surrounded in shadow. A tiny glow had appeared which steadily was growing brighter and brighter driving back the darkness until instead of a single ball of darkness residing inside of Dante there were four balls of light in addition to dominant and ward off his darkness.

Code: L-Y-O-K-O

Around him the cells of computer code dropped down as the tower reset and maybe it was wishful thinking, but Dante swore he heard the laughter and a voice.

Outside on Lyoko Drew, Riley, and Sakura watched the impossible happen when the red tower aura changed to a calm neutral blue. Suddenly, things didn't seem as terrible as they once had.

* * *

"_In your FACE XANA!"_

* * *


	77. Chapter 77

Chapter 77:

**Chapter 77:**

* * *

_Love does not seek its own but is other centered._

* * *

Many questions had arisen after XANA's stunt on Lyoko when his monster had tossed Hallie, or really dropped her, into the digital sea.

What now?

Did that really happen?

I thought that if Dante lost it the world would end (surprisingly this comment/question was made by Sakura).

How on earth was Dante devirtualized? How was it possible?

More questions came after Dante deactivated the tower, and the tower after that, and the one following that one….Then XANA went quiet for one day, two days, three days, four…until the time period was a week and five days after Hallie's fall. On the fifth day of the incomplete second week the search for answers had began. On the sixth day another Lyoko Warrior embraced the digital sea's depths. On the seventh day answers were found.

One week, Five days

_I really hate Steven. I mean it. I really loathe his guts. He's been grating on my nerves for long enough__, and that incident on the bus was the last straw._

_Yeah, I'm writing in a diary. Sakura Stern has now been demoted to a sentimental sap of an idiot. Yeah, I ways wanted to be a sappy, sentimental idiot. My life's goal is complete. Yeehaw._

_What makes this even worse is that I'm writing in _Hallie's_ diary. Her mother gave it to me, and well, the little Belpois is quite the evil-ish genius. Was…_

_This is so frustrating! We don't know! According to Dante, Hallie hasn't shown up on any of the scans run on Lyoko or on earth. So she is being counted missing in action, MIA, and we have no idea if she is dead or alive._

_The odds are:_

_Dead: probable._

_Alive: doubtful, __very__ doubtful._

_It has something to do with Hallie's unstable condition on Lyoko. Apparently, the loss of key memories and of her shape shifting abilities made her a ticking time bomb that was slowly being defused by Dante. But if drained by that leech (or so we have taken to calling scyphozoa jr.) and dropped into the digital sea, the trauma would be too great hypothetically for the strained ties holding Hallie together on Lyoko to survive._

_Hypothetically if her ties broke, she wouldn't stay on Lyoko therefore by default would appear on earth, but so far, nada. If her ties broke and she didn't come home to earth (which seems to be the case), well… So, we don't know is she is dead or alive, and somehow its easier and more terrible having this unknown and letting it remain unknown. None of us are really ready to face reality and say that Hallie is alive because she could actually be…dead._

_Ignorance is a tortuous bliss._

_S.I. Stern_

Week One, Day Six

Sakura reverently closed the leather cover to Hallie's former diary. It was early in the morning, too early— in the majority of the girl's dorm residents' opinion—to be alive. But it was worth getting up at seemingly obscene hours in order to get a hot, quick shower without a wait.

Arching her back and stretching to the ceiling of her dorm room, Sakura let out a high pitched whine as she stretched like a cat. She released the note with a whoosh of air when she finished her stretch. Bending over and reading last night's midnight scrawl in Hallie's diary could not be good for her eyes, she decided. Moving around her room, Sakura dropped to her belly and began digging around under her bed for where she could have sworn she saw her shampoo roll yesterday. Whether it was indeed there or not was yet to be verified.

It was during the process of searching for her elusive shampoo that Sakura began to really ponder last night's delusional, sleep deprived words. It was true. Even after Dante's miraculous possession of the Code Lyoko code so shortly after Hallie's fall, no one in the group had done anything beyond scanning the remaining two sectors of Lyoko, not counting Sector 5. Everyone had failed beyond this to address the five W's and one H.

Who (meaning Hallie) would go on Lyoko alone?

What could have caused Hallie to go only Lyoko alone?

Where did Scyphozoa Jr. come from? (The who they knew)

Why was Hallie on Lyoko?

How did Hallie fail to escape Lyoko and Scyphozoa Jr, after eluding 16 and possibly more of XANA's monsters?

The group didn't know the particular's of the incident. The grand sum of their knowledge was Hallie had been attacked on Lyoko by XANA's monsters when she was alone and vulnerable and had been dropped into the digital sea. No further investigation had occurred about the events prior to the group's arrival on Lyoko. Sakura herself could only bear to read only a few of Hallie's journal entries, and those had been towards the front of the diary from the beginning of the school year not the most recent ones. It had been mere happenstance that Sakura had flipped open Hallie's diary to have it land on the detailed entry on the secret passage in the library.

Sakura's hand closed around the elusive shampoo bottle. Sakura successfully withdrew the bottle from beneath her bed and added it to her pile of shower necessities. All that was left was to grab her shower shoes, bathrobe, and towel, then she would have a nice hot shower all to herself. Bending down she scooped her shampoo, conditioner, soap dish with the soap, and she straightened and turned toward her door and dropped all her bathing supplies to the ground from the utter shock of the sight in front of her.

"Are you insane?" she asked.

"Come on Sakura, you know you love us," spoke up Drew from _her_ chair.

Sakura leveled a cold glare onto the intruders in her room. Riley was leaning against the door blocking it. Drew was slouched comfortably in her chair as previously stated with a camcorder on and the tell tale red recording light shining as bright as the morning star. Dante himself was leaning casually against her desk. It was a male invasion on the female dormitory and, more specifically, Sakura's room.

"Out," Sakura stated pointing explicitly at the door.

It was five thirty a.m. in the morning. She had half an hour before the bathrooms would be swarmed, and it was too early for general discussion and illegal visitation of boys in girls' rooms. "Out, out, out, out, out! It's too early in the morning, and how on earth did you manage to sneak up here, and not to mention into my room?"

The faint sounds of a distant car alarm reached Sakura's ears. "You know what, I don't want to know, so if you'll excuse me I'm leaving to take my shower, and I expect to find you gone when I return."

Sakura indignantly gathered up her towel, bathrobe, and her shower supplies before moving toward her door which Riley was still leaning against. He did not move.

Sakura sighed in exasperation at her brother's lack of motion and glared up at him with as much disdain a tired girl up since 5 a.m. and clad only in her pjs could muster.

"Please move."

Riley shrugged and stepped aside. Before leaving, Sakura turned back with a final question for the three.

"What are you three doing here?"

A slow smile spread across Drew's face. "I came to record how you act in the morning. They came to chaperone."

Sakura rolled her eyes, muttered "figures" and left the room, shower necessities in tow. After her shower when she returned, all unauthorized presences were gone.

The next six hours flew by in a haze for Sakura. When the fog cleared into a less dazed period of time, Sakura found herself at lunch numbly holding a limp piece of broccoli dangling from her fork. There was something wet on her cheek. Sakura reached up and touched the substance. It was gravy.

Slowly memories trickled into Sakura's head of the past thirty seconds. Drew had flicked gravy at her, intentionally. Normally, Sakura would have been outraged and would have thrown her broccoli at Drew, but this time, no.

She was breaking the surface. She had to, _had to_, speak now or forever hold her peace. Sakura never kept the peace that well.

"Where's Hallie?" she asked looking at her brother, Drew, and Dante with the look of a lost, vulnerable child all alone in the world. The guys looked back at Sakura stunned by her question.

There had been an incident the week before when Tania had caught Sakura in extremely low spirits. Tania had asked Sakura a very incisive question that had proceeded to eat away at Sakura for the past week.

"Why do you look like your best friend just died?" Tania had asked.

_Because I don't know if she has, and I __**need**__ to know._

"Where's Hallie?" Sakura asked again to the guys, "It's been a week, nearly two weeks. Where is she?"

"Sakura," Riley said, "drop it."

"No, I won't drop it. Where is my best friend?" Sakura turned to look at Dante, "Well, where is she? Why haven't you found her?"

"She fell into the digital sea."

"So? _Aelita_ has fallen into the digital sea. _My mother_ has fallen into the digital sea. The skiff our parents used has fallen into the digital sea. It's quite feasible to survive immersion in the digital sea. _Why aren't you looking_?"

"What if I have been?"

"Then look harder. You owe her."

"What if she's dead?"

"What if she isn't?"

Sometime during their verbal gunfight, Sakura had risen and laid her hands flat on the table to bear her weight as she leaned forward to glare down at Dante. Now the two were quiet, each refusing to end the standoff. The entire lunchroom was staring at the two.

Sakura broke the mood first by walking away towards the door of the lunchroom, lunch tray in hand ready to dump in the closest trash can.

"The least you can do," she said before making her grand exit, "is to find her body and give her a proper burial." With that she swooped away tossing her tray into a trashcan and pushing the swinging cafeteria doors out of her way. Slowly, the noise returned to the cafeteria as the students felt the change in the atmosphere.

"She has a point, you know," Drew spoke up. Dante's eyes soared over toward the blonde. Many things could be found in his dark eyes: anger, hurt, confusion, determination, but the shadow that had haunted the depths of Dante's eyes for so long was gone. "You're the computer whiz. If anyone could find a way to locate Hallie, it'd be you." Drew picked up his tray of food also. "I'm not hungry." And Drew too left followed by Riley leaving Dante to his thoughts.

Finally he sighed and picked up his uneaten plate also to feed the trashcan with.

"You can't work with nothing," he said aloud, more for his benefit then anyone else's. And then he too left the lunchroom.

Before XANA's attacks had ceased, whenever Dante had been on Lyoko he had listened. He had listened for the slightest murmur, whisper or shadow of a sound originating from the center of Lyoko, specifically from the heart of Lyoko. Any sound would be a sign of hope that would symbolize that embarking on a quest of locating Hallie wouldn't be in vain. If the heart was active, there was hope for finding Hallie. But every journey Dante had traveled onto Lyoko after the discovery of his possession of the code Lyoko code had been silent as the grave.

…

Sakura paced down the hall, shoulders shaking in anger and with furious sobs. They weren't doing anything! None of them, not even her. They all sat around twiddling their thumbs doing nothing! Hallie deserved better!

Hallie wouldn't have rested if one of them had fallen into the digital sea. She would have fought to find a way to save/retrieve their fallen member. Yet, they weren't doing anything for her!

Sakura slammed the doors leading to the outside open and let the cool breeze wash over her skin. In the passing minutes Sakura regained control over her emotions until the streaming sobs were hiccups, and she could see clearly again. Taking a deep shuddering breath, Sakura mentally assessed herself. She had been crying too much lately.

A rustle behind her alerted her to another presence. Irritation came over Sakura. She could guess who it was, and she didn't want to be needled right then.

"Go away Drew. I'm not in the mood," she called bitterly, not turning to face the intrusion of her privacy. Drew had been popping up lately, more often then normal. This morning's appearance hadn't been the first time.

Drew had been popping up with mischief in mind lately. Just three days ago he had sprayed her with silly string. Two days before that, he had led her on a merry little chase across the campus while holding her sour patch kids and licorice candy stash hostage. She didn't even want to _think_ about how he had rearranged her ring tone to the body noise/music option on her phone.

She had noticed a trend in his behavior. Whenever she seemed to get blue, Drew would pull one of these stunts. She didn't have time to be sad if Drew was driving her up the wall and causing her blood pressure to soar. No doubt he was here to bug her again.

"I mean it Drew; I'm not in the mood."

The continued silence started to bother her. Drew would normally have spoken by now. Spinning on her heel, Sakura turned fists clenched to face the intrusion on her privacy. "Oh fudge," was her only comment as steel fingers wrapped around her wrist and red robotic eyes bore into hers.

…

Drew burst through the double doors to the outside as soon as he heard the scream. The joker mask he had been carrying was dropped forgotten on the floor. The poor mask was flattened by a stampeding Drew, and shortly after, a stampeding Riley.

Both ground to a sudden halt at the sight in front of them. A squirming Sakura was trying to twist her way out of the unforgivable grip of a hybrid wire C3PO/ Terminator mix. A tall, strong robot with steel for bones and wires for muscles had a death grip on Sakura.

At the appearance of Riley and Drew, the robot retracted its left hand to have a knife replace the hand only to level the knife against Sakura's throat. Riley and Drew barely dared to breathe in their great caution to not cross invisible lines and unspoken rules that if broken would cause the robot to perhaps mortally harm Sakura.

They could only watch Sakura helplessly as her squirming ceased when she noticed the cool metal against her skin. Before her realization she had squirmed and twisted and cried for help, but now she couldn't do any of those things only wait and stare with terror in her eyes at her brother and his best friend.

"Let her go," spoke a calm voice. Sakura's eyes shone with relief. It was Dante. She was saved.

The robot angled its mechanical gaze from the two recognized threats of the identified hostile targets onto the prodigy.

"Let her go," Dante repeated, stepping forward a step in front of Riley and Drew. He could follow that machine's information process. He knew that this minion of his father considered Andrew and Riley threats and targets for elimination along with Sakura.

Sakura breathed easier as the pressure on her neck was removed. Her relief was short lived. For one second she was in bright sunshine, and the next came with a blow to her neck region causing her to fall into an abrupt plane of darkness.

The next actions happened almost too quickly for the eye to catch and the brain to process (and we all know how quickly the brain works). Firstly, the robot withdrew the knife and reverted back to the hand setting. Secondly, Sakura suddenly went limp, unconscious as the robot hit a nerve grouping on the back of her neck. Thirdly, the robot caught the unconscious girl, and finally, before making its escape, the robot ran forward, and kicked Dante in the chest (consequentially sending him crashing into the brick school wall beside the double doors). Then it was gone.

Riley immediately darted off after the robot. Drew hesitated minutely, torn between his two friends. With a cough and the resilience characteristic of youth, Dante was on his feet and beside Drew.

"We don't have much time. It's taking her to the factory, and to top this off, XANA isn't too pleased with me. That robot has orders not to obey any commands I issue."

The two darted off in pursuit.

* * *


	78. Chapter 78

**Authoress Note 6-02-08: Certain family member's graduations (my big bro's from high school), being drafted into housecleaning, kitchen duty, painting door duty, job hunting, band car wash, and sharing the computer have not ****permanently kept me away from updating (though they have kept me busy). Here is the seventy eighth chapter of Return my Past!**

**Chapter 78**

None of the three made the journey to the factory before the robot, which was only to be expected. Dante's first action as commander of the supercomputer was to put up a fire wall, an energy net that prevented anything from falling or entering the digital void and effectively quarantined Lyoko. The firewall was a recent creation invented only a matter of exactly one week ago (20-20 vision can be found in hindsight).

After setting the firewall, Dante sent out a scan on Lyoko for Sakura's DNA genetic code. Dante tapped the screen with triumph pointing to the message of the successful location of Sakura to the two brooding err…tense, stressed, hovering hens behind him in an act of appeasement.

"Good news. We have a lock on Sakura. She's alive and on Lyoko. The bad news is she's in a guardian," Dante didn't turn as he began to type in commands for the supercomputer, "the guardian's location is toward the north eastern portion of the forest sector. I'll be down in the scanner room soon, so if you'll just head down there."

The firewall wasn't perfect and had a few kinks to be worked out of it, but it not only prevented anything (monster or virtualized human) from entering the digital void, but it also acted as quarantine. No monster of XANA could enter the area/sector roped off by the firewall. All monsters already in the sector before the time of the firewall's activation were trapped in the sector. Unfortunately, this standard was also applied to all humans from earth virtualizing onto Lyoko (one of the kinks that needed to be worked out).

Before Dante joined Riley and Drew down in the scanner room, he had to immunize the two to the firewall in order to have the two be able to virtualize onto Lyoko. As for Dante, he was already immune.

-

On Lyoko

-

The three triangles that "created" the wire frame of all virtualized humans and the Lyoko forms of said humans didn't immediately drop their individual fully formed humans after the scanning process was complete. The stationary Lyoko forms of Riley, Drew, and Dante had to first descend through a red net of energy (above which they had been virtualized onto Lyoko) before the scanner finished its duties and dropped the boys like a hot potato to the forest floor below.

The three guys landed on the forest trail with the tall evergreen trees towering above their heads. Somehow the leaves seemed less green and the light less bright almost as if a vital part of Lyoko was…missing. A mysterious silence was hovering over Lyoko as if the next actions those three would take would determine the virtual world's future.

The three were tense and on guard. The particular path the Lyoko Warriors had landed on had only two directions: forwards and backwards. Their desired direction for rescuing Sakura was forward.

Drew and Riley had been briefed by Dante. Sakura was held captive inside a guardian located on an insolated platform roughly in the middle of the north eastern portion of the forest sector. The path Dante had virtualized the three on held a pocket of fake reality on it, a simulation bubble. Riley and Dante would take the main path. Upon touchdown in Lyoko, Drew had immediately taken to the trees climbing on all fours very muck like a cat and acting also like a flying squirrel soaring from tree to tree in huge leaps.

The yellow half sphere of light seemed to beckon to the two on foot even as Drew soared past the obstacle with his aerial route. But the beckoning from the yellow tent of a virtual reality within a virtual reality had a darker touch to it.

Riley fingered his light saber before sheathing it with obvious reluctance. That yellow half sphere represented the unknown. He had no idea what lay within that sphere. All he knew was that beyond that half sphere was his sister, and he wasn't going to be too late this time.

"Riley,"

Riley shifted his gaze to the dark eyed fellow participant on this quest for saving Sakura. Dante was looking quite serious next to him.

"I have your back," Dante said in reminder.

Riley nodded solemnly, and the two stepped into the simulation bubble. It was all up to him now.

(-:-)

Drew halted destination reached. Perched at the top of a free floating tree characteristic of the forest region, Drew had a bird's eye view of the surrounding region in his immediate vicinity. Off to the left was the simulation bubble which Riley and Dante were traversing through. Off to his right was the orange sphere that held captive the youngest Stern female.

Drew turned his eyes back to the simulation bubble. He had his orders. Hold position within jumping range of the guardian and the simulation bubble until Riley and Dante made it through. Avoid engaging in hostile behavior. Under dire circumstances protect and rescue Sakura.

Bluntly put, wait for Riley and Dante before moving in. If XANA's monsters come to kick Lyoko Warrior rear end, play the dodging game. And if something goes horribly wrong, rescue and ensure Sakura's safety. But before he could act, Drew had to wait. Not on Dante, who could walk through the simulation bubble recognizing it as the illusion in was, but on Riley who had recently lost a childhood friend and was in the process of losing his sister.

None of the Lyoko Warriors were deluded. XANA was playing for keeps. Anyone he caught would die. Any weak link would be exploited and eliminated. And the most susceptible person in the trio on Lyoko was Riley.

(-:-)

"_Remember, it doesn't matter what you see. You __have__ to remember it's not real."_

Easier said then done.

"Riley!" came an enthusiastic female cry as a black and purple streaked head of hair hurtled toward him. Riley didn't even stumble as the sudden weight of the Sakura in front of him hit his abdominal area. The glomp, as he believed it was called, did not faze him. Slanted brown eyes peered up at him with happiness.

"I can't believe you came for me! Thank you so much!"

_This is not real._

"Let's go, and once we're off Lyoko let's beat Drew with a stick."

Riley had to control his urge to laugh. _This is not real._ Riley put a hand on the head buried against his chest and pushed this Sakura away widening the distance between the two.

"Really, I thought you were more the sort who would rearrange his internal organs so that his insides were his outsides and his outsides his insides." He said all this with a smiled plastered on his face.

_This is not real._

"I wouldn't do that!" The Sakura in front of him countered, "I'd just beat him with a really big stick."

All emotion left Riley's face with that comment. Apathetically, he gazed at the imposter posing as his sister. This Sakura's lack of reaction (justified outrage since he was subtly implying of his past readings of her diary before she discontinued writing in it (because he would read it)) only proved her the fake. This wasn't his Sakura. There was nothing left to hold him here.

"Hey," Riley didn't even falter as he continued past the fake Sakura, "Where are you going?" she asked.

He didn't reply. He held no obligation to this program. His real sibling in desperate need of rescuing was beyond this farce.

"You can't leave me," the Sakura was now beside him with wide and desperate eyes, "You can't leave me here."

He spoke. "Piffle."

The Sakura drew back shocked. This wasn't in her programming. He wasn't supposed to leave.

"You can't leave me!" she cried and malevolent intent began to show in her countenance, "I won't let you—"

The Sakura was cut off by two different things. One, an electric blue light saber blade had sprung to life from Riley's hand (quite a contrast with his civilian/school attire). Riley had turned back to face the program, light saber drawn, as he hovered on the fence between virtual reality and the simulation bubble's "reality".

"You are a cheap imitation of someone who desperately needs my help. You are not real and therefore, are not worthy of my time."

Then Riley turned and made the final step out of the simulation bubble and into the virtual world of Lyoko. The simulation of Sakura stood immobile even as the edges of the world it played a part in began to unravel. Red tendrils of energy had wrapped around the wrists and penetrated the spinal cord of the fake Sakura. The energy had first appeared when the fake Sakura had been about to bear her claws in order to keep Riley in the bubble. Now the program could only wait paralyzed until its world disappeared.

As Riley exited the simulation he came face to face with a red eyed Dante. Immediately, at Riley's appearance, the red faded from Dante's eyes as he took a step back out of Riley's path, but not before a sense of urgency was passed along to Riley. Something was not right. Even as the simulation bubble faded behind Riley, he quickly scanned the area unable to find Drew.

"What's up?"

Dante's answer was ominous, "Complications have arisen."

It was then Riley heard the signature sound of a mega tank firing a laser pulse. The cavalry had arrived.

(-:-)

XANA had obviously been planning for a quick disposal of Sakura if the two crabs and mega tank were any sign. When Dante and Riley arrived on scene behind the two crabs guarding the platform, they could see on the platform the mega tank being distracted by Drew. And when two more crabs and a mega tank joined the party behind Riley and Dante, it became transparently clear XANA, at the first sign of interference, had rallied a slew of monsters before the firewall cut off all transfers into the region. Behind the two were two crabs and a mega tank. In front of the two were two crabs and a mega tank. They had their work cut out for them.

Riley and Dante parted paths at the platform's edge. Riley took to the air with a mighty jump fully prepared to take down the newest mega tank and crab recruits. Dante in a black blur of motion wove between the crab legs to reach the platform the guardian was situated in order to set Sakura free.

"Trade!" he yelled at Drew when he entered the platform, and Drew all too happily complied running off to face the two crabs even as Dante rushed toward the guardian. Dante stopped in front of the guardian. A silent mental communication began between the guardian and the prodigy.

Dante first covered the basics. _Let her go._

Not much happened in the way of results but Dante hadn't expected anything different from the knowledge he had gleaned from XANA's robot. He had in communicating with the guardian and its refusal achieved confirmation of the fact XANA's monsters had orders not to listen to his commands. That would just make this mess all the harder.

Behind Dante, Riley and Drew were slicing and dicing through the crabs left and right. As the last crab wobbled unsteadily before blasting into a million pieces, a face down was occurring between Riley, Drew, and a mega tank. Steely gray eyes never flickered from the mega tank even as the pulse of the energy from the light saber throbbed throughout the saber's wielder.

"Drew, go. Get Sakura." Riley bit out focusing precisely so to not break his concentration. Drew's wolverine claws retracted just out of sheer surprise from Riley's statement. Riley wished to commence in a duel to the death rather then get his sister? Granted that Sakura was an annoying turnip at times…

"Go!"

Drew didn't look back. He was off to aid in the retrieval of the weapons mistress. Dashing down the pathway, Drew noticed something that had been seemingly forgotten in the decimation of XANA's monsters. The second mega tank, the one Drew had initially been distracting when it rolled on the scene to aid in the deletion of Sakura. Well, Dante most definitely knew the mega tank was still hanging around, but Dante was a bit preoccupied at the moment.

The mega tank for its part was still with yellow XANA's eyes dotting the circumference of its shell, watching. Drew's subconscious calculated a hypothesis, conclusion, and confirmation while sending the news through his nervous system before his conscious had properly taken in the situation.

Drew felt the familiar tingle of the usage of one of his nine lives when he healed himself. In front of him the guardian exploded from the inside out freeing Sakura. He saw the danger, the dominos rapidly falling against the other in a hopeless spiral toward doom. He had to break the chain. He had to protect. He had promised.

With a speed almost surpassing Ulrich's super sprint, Drew was crossing the platform even as the mega tank released a laser pulse it had begun charging the moment the guardian disappeared. Drew had only one goal in mind.

He did **not** body slam the mega tank to shift its fire marginally by mere degrees like prior Lyoko Warriors had done. **Nor**, did he move in front of the pulse and block it with his weapons.

Instead, Drew slammed into Sakura sending her slamming into a tree before Drew absorbed the full impact of the laser pulse and was sent flying into the air. Finally, after much helpless ricocheting and desperate clawing for leverage, Drew was firmly gripped by the jealous gravity and plummeted into the digital void.

All this happened between the moment the guardian disappeared off Lyoko freeing Sakura, Riley's duel with the remaining mega tank, and Dante's moment of recovery from his exorcism of the guardian. Before Sakura could open her mouth to speak, before she had managed to fully open her eyes, before Riley withdrew his hot energy blade from the last standing mega tank, and before Dante could jump down after him. Drew had disappeared beneath the surface of the void.

In that moment everything changed.

All of Lyoko seemed to respond to the second Lyoko Warrior's plunge into the digital void. Piercing shafts of color penetrated the sector harshly coloring the fading foliage. Finally the silence was broken.

_MOVE!_ Roared an urgent voice in Dante's mental ear. Even before he had processed the ramifications behind that word and where it came from, Dante was on his feet running as if death was at his heels. He was running to a not quite so unknown destination and to carry out a not so strange action.

His destination: the forest sector way tower

His action: to utilize an unknown code.

In his run, though he didn't consciously think it, Dante materialized Sakura and Riley back to earth. Running on ahead toward the way tower, Dante ran in order to secure the slim possibility that he could restore his most recently fallen teammate.

(-:-)

It was dark. Drew was in an utter darkness. No longer was he falling or even drowning in a blue sea. Now he was merging with nothingness.

After his immediate plunging into the digital sea, all sights, sensations, and sounds had swiftly faded to this. The darkness had come and eaten away the color, shape and sound of his surroundings. The dark was now beginning to eat away at him.

He could feel the tiny digital squares starting to peel off, to disappear, and fade into the darkness, merging with it. Even now Drew could feel his own deconstruction as he and the darkness swiftly became one. It wouldn't be much longer before his face, arms, hands, head, heart, and feet disappeared. He would become scattered across the random data pervading this dark region never to be conscious of life again.

In that moment everything changed.

A piercing utter contrast pervaded his senses. Where was the darkness? Where had the darkness gone? What was this? This…this…light? And then Drew's eyes were opened.

Warmth spread throughout him, spreading from two places: his right hand and his heart. Where the warmth spread a solidness followed. Drew could distinguish now what his nocturnal eyes once could not. He was part of a solitary shining island of light that was surrounded by a sea of darkness.

And then peering further he could see the flicker of the sudden life of another light. It was like a tunnel, darkness and far off a pin point of light. After a brief moment's hesitation, Drew went and met the approaching stream of light, and his lost consciousness became aware vaguely of his senses again for he disappeared into the warm, welcome arms of rest.

When Drew woke he found himself in his dorm room he shared with Riley with three very relieved faces watching him. He was alive.

* * *

**I promise all questions that I can possibly imagine pertinent to the story and the recent plot will be answered next chapter. If you don't trust my reasoning (and I have been known to be a bit scatterbrained) leave a review with your question(s), and I will answer them. Also, would anyone like to wager a guess at how many chapters are left in the story? If so, leave a review with your guess and if I get enough guesses I'll answer it in an authoress note next chapter. (Try to get your guesses and questions in before Friday since that is when I try to type up and update my chapters unless unforeseen circumstances prevent it (graduation, relatives in town, fiendish noob graduates that love face book)). Oh, also let me know if I missed any typos (since I hate missing typos and seek to prevent them in order to make a confusion free and enjoyable reading).**

**Thanks a bunch!**


	79. Chapter 79

* * *

Day Seven

* * *

"_It's okay Drew. This is the one time it is safe for you to go toward the light at the end of the tunnel."_

If Drew had been on earth when he heard that particularly corny line, he would have chuckled before commenting on how terrible the line was. Instead when he had heard it in a sea of darkness, he had stepped toward the light and had eventually woken up on earth.

At first Drew was confused, befuddled with his surroundings. Where was this? Why was he here? What happened? _Oh, yeah..._

He had been on Lyoko and then in the darkness, but then he saw… and then there was light and a voice. But how was that possible? The darkness…the light…the voice…

In his half conscious state hovering between sleep and awake Drew could sense people around him. Groaning, Drew pulled himself up out of sleep and into the harsh world of the living. He dimly heard the statement, "He's awake!" before he sat up and opened his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked as he shied away from the harsh light coming through the window. Sunlight that strong meant that it was midday or some hour after that. Funny, he had already eaten lunch, but he was hungry already, ravenous even. He felt like he had missed a meal, maybe even two.

"You're alive," said a quiet voice.

Drew blinked. That kind of sounded like Dante.

"Yeah, last time I checked I was," Drew replied in an attempt to lighten the mood. He also used the time to observe the room. Dante, the saint, was leaning by the blinds and had adjusted them so that the brightness didn't burn Drew's light starved retinas (hence the sainthood). Sakura was sitting head on her knees across the room on Riley's bed. Riley was leaning against the doorway.

The next five minutes was a blur of hugs, backslaps, and enthusiastic pounding on the back until Drew felt slightly bruised from his welcoming committee. Apparently, everyone was very happy he hadn't been lost forever in the digital void. Eventually, the explosive euphoria passed giving way to a calmer, inquisitive atmosphere.

"Out of curiosity," Drew began after the pizza had been ordered, "what did happen? I remember body slamming into Sakura, major pinball action, and falling into darkness."

Sakura who (to the relief of all the males in the dorm room) had not cried (at all, not even a little) and replied to Drew's question. "You fell in the digital void, Dante did something smart with the supercomputer and voila, you're back. Riley lugged you back to the dorm—"

"Have you been hitting those all you can eat buffets again," Riley spoke up in jest.

Sakura rolled her eyes and continued, "—and we sat around until you woke up. Which took a day and we weren't really sure you were okay until you woke up. You are Andrew Della Robia, correct?"

"I don't know who else I would be. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Sakura shrugged, "ask the genius who got you off Lyoko. He's the one who thinks something weird happened."

"_It's okay Drew…"_

Drew snapped out of his brief space out moment to catch the tail end of Dante's response.

"…probably nothing."

Drew's mind was whirling. Dante had said something strange had happened. Drew personally thought the whole thing was a bit weird (especially when you start hallucinating and seeing/hearing angels).

"How was it weird?" Drew pursued not letting the subject change.

His question took Riley and Sakura for a double take. Drew was being serious all of a sudden (not that it was so strange to see Drew serious on a regular basis, but still).

Dante, nonchalant as ever, replied just a bit vaguely, "I just thought getting you out was a bit too easy. It should have taken longer to put all the pieces back together."

"What?" Sakura asked confusion clearly written across her brow. Riley had the same nonverbal look on his face.

Dante explained, "The digital sea is made up of random data. When someone falls in they get spread out across this random data as their Lyoko form gets broken apart into miniscule pieces. While it isn't impossible to find and put together all these pieces, it is extremely difficult hence why I was so surprised Drew was fished out so easily and quickly."

_Put all the pieces back together…_The words rang through Drew's head as his mind carefully went over his stay in the darkness. So the darkness was the digital sea, and he had been falling part, peeling away just like Dante said he would, but then…

"_It's okay…"_

Then…there was light, and he had been warm…

"_It's okay…"_

Someone had spoken to him. Not an angel, but…

"Hallie,"

And all the pieces had come together.

Silence had swiftly fallen over the room after Drew had spoken that name. Drawn, severe, sad faces looked at Drew, but he didn't see. It was all coming together.

"Drew..?" Sakura ventured to say trailing off at the very end.

Drew didn't notice her speech at all. It finally made sense.

"Hallie's alive, and she's on Lyoko!"

The faces looking back at him were priceless, Kodak moments.

"Uh…Dantes, I think Drew's dip in the digital sea loosened his screws a little," Sakura said with an uneasy smiley on her queasy looking face. Riley too had his two bits to put into the situation.

"I concur. The trauma must be getting to his head."

Dante was a bit more severe, "Drew—"

Drew wouldn't hear any of it. This realization, this breakthrough, they had to understand.

"Guys, Hallie's alive! She was in the digital sea. She saved me! She kept me from falling to pieces—"

"Drew,"

"No, listen—"

"That's enough."

"—listen—"

"Drew, we're glad you're back, but—"

"LISTEN TO ME!"

The room was quiet again except for Drew's loud breaths after his rather loud yell. Finally, seeing an open floor and no opposition, Drew spoke.

"When I was in the digital sea, my Lyoko form was unraveling, and I was losing my senses one by one. But somehow it began to all be reversed. There was a bright light that was blinding at first, but then I was warm, and I didn't seem to mind the light anymore. As the light became more tolerable for my eyes I began to notice other things. One, there were two concentrated spots of warmth, my Lyoko form was whole looking as if I had come straight from the scanners.

"I thought I saw an angel in front of me. In my defense I was in an island of light so it was natural to think I was in heaven. At first all I could see of the angel was a smile. I realized that the angel was awfully familiar somehow," Drew took a breath watching, briefly, his rapt audience, "then this second light appeared that started to come toward me. At first I didn't go toward it, but then angel spoke. _'"It's okay Drew. This is the one time it is safe for you to go toward the light at the end of the tunnel."'_

"Well, all my delusions about heaven and angels halted there, but I did go toward the light at the end of the tunnel, and I woke up here in this room."

The first semi-skeptic (being Riley) spoke first, "Drew, what exactly does this have to do with Hallie?"

The question struck Drew not in the there-is-no-connection way but in the I'm-so-stupid-I-can't-believe-I-left-that-out way.

"Because the familiar "angel" looked a lot like Hallie when she's on Lyoko. Pink hair, green eyes, same voice, but this Hallie glowed. And instead of her clothes being blue, they were white," Drew detailed.

"You say that you saw Hallie in the digital sea, and that she spoke to you?" Riley asked with tinges of disbelief echoing in his voice.

Drew simply nodded.

Sakura was more then a bit perplexed, torn between belief and disbelief, hope and despair. Her brother, fully skeptical, looked to the last person in the room to send in the crushing blow saying Drew was off his rocker and clearly needed to be shipped off to the loony bin.

Drew waited too. He could see his story wasn't going over well. It was the truth, and he as a man of honor and integrity would back his word to the end even if it required jumping into the digital sea a second time in an attempt to prove—"

"You say she was wearing white?" Dante asked.

Now Riley and Sakura looked at Dante as if he should be in the loony bin. Drew nodded warily feeling a spark of hope.

"And that she glowed?" Dante pressed.

Drew gave a firm and confident nod as he looked eye to eye to meet any verbal scathing in store for him. But what he saw in Dante's eyes wasn't scorn, disbelief, or mockery but revelation.

"Drew, you have had the rare privilege of seeing the Heart of Lyoko," Dante then sunk down the wall in shock as the full register of what an appearance of the Heart meant, "I can't believe it. She's alive."

"Who? Hallie?" Sakura cut in.

"I can't believe it. After being quiet for so long and then to be seen just walking around." The possibilities spun in Dante's mind.

"Was that Hallie Drew saw?" Sakura pressed again.

"Yes, no, maybe." Dante had a spaced out look on his face. Sakura's face was a mixture of frustration and of a lost look.

"Wait," Riley said, "I thought Hallie was the heart of Lyoko."

"She is," Dante replied.

"So why did you say that the person who Drew saw might not be Hallie?"

"Because it could just be the Heart of Lyoko making house calls."

"…what?"

Dante sighed, closing his eyes while rubbing his temples. He didn't have time for a history lesson for these three. He had a breakthrough which he needed to pursue, but…

"Sometime after XANA was released from his imprisonment on the Internet, he made his way back to Lyoko and Sector 5. He had experienced a type of renaissance in thought and one of his new ideas was to try to tap into an upgrade for Lyoko. That involved the nifty idea of blending Lyoko with the uncanny powers humans bring.

"XANA started with the core of Lyoko found in Sector 5. He used his influence to kidnap a newborn baby in order to bind the child permanently to Lyoko in an attempt to bring about the upgrade to the entire virtual world. I think the theory was that with a human as the core of Sector the human spirit, or what made the human uniquely human and differentiated humans from all other living beings walking on the earth, would spread to the four regions of Lyoko and their towers strengthening and changing those areas. If the towers were affected then it would lend to greater power when XANA attacked earth. Like many of XANA's plans, it didn't quite go as planned.

"The kidnapped newborn was safely brought and bound to the Heart, but the child didn't stay and was shortly brought back to her parents on earth safe and sound."

It had been his first trip onto Franz Hopper's Lyoko and to earth all with a sleeping newborn held rather awkwardly in his arms. At the time Dante hadn't known a lot about humans except for what he learned from the connection to television channels in the viewing port in XANA's Sector 5. His first encounter with a human had been with that howling infant.

He didn't even have a name back then, just a label, XANA.2. He was just a nameless, black-haired, red-eyed human looking program of a young boy watching his father work. The screams had sounded terrible as if the howling thing was in pain as the fireworks above him had occurred.

He had watched indifferent at the time. His father did many strange things he didn't fully understand, but it was all for the future and their rule. Back then, he wouldn't have wanted anything different then to have ruled the world alongside his father over the lesser beings that were humans.

But everything changed at Dante's sight of a small thing that hovered in the center of the core of Lyoko. His father ad finished his work already saying that XANA.2 could do whatever he wanted with the new heart as long as he didn't break it. They would need it to bring down the world.

The small thing was a baby, or so said the viewing screens, television, data piles and internet sites XANA.2 had consulted, an un-grownup human. The baby had been so tired that he had easily been able to enter the spherical core unbarred where the baby was stored.

He had stopped then and had just looked at the baby analyzing and memorizing. Small pink smudges adorned the crown of its head, and the baby was wearing a sort of white and blue toga. The baby seemed to have a pair of everything, a pair of ears, eyes, arms, legs, hands, and feet. It also had tiny fingers and toes, a mouth and nose. Curiosity sated, he had turned to leave and had stopped at the coo.

That sound, it was quiet and not aggressive unlike the harsh yells and cries he heard everyday being crowed by XANA's minions. The sound had caused him to turn back. Could it be there was more to discover about this baby then what his pokes and proddings had accomplished? Turning back he had caught sight for the first time big forest green eyes looking deeply into his own.

For the first time Dante's eyes had turned black and not the bloody gaze that had perpetuated his eye color since his first conscious moment. And then deep down inside Dante had felt breathed to life an entirely foreign thing. He later, much later, had the experience and knowledge to label it as an emotion, or really, guilt. He also much later, and after much interaction with his friends, could name what else exactly had come to life at that time, a conscience.

It had struck the very young Dante just then that this tiny infant had a father and quite possibly a mother (though Dante was skeptical). With that eye contact he had found he couldn't keep the baby here. It would keep looking at him like that with a look that was not meant for him, but for the baby's…family.

And so with the birth of his newly discovered conscience, Dante had set out and successfully returned the child to her family. It hadn't been easy. The child had been bound to the care permanently and to Lyoko. It was not intended for the child to be able to ever leave the core of Sector 5 much less Lyoko. Dante had managed to find a way to successfully separate the baby from the core, but the separation from the core of Lyoko had not gone as planned, but of course, he wouldn't realize this until thirteen years later when the second appearance that infant made on Lyoko took place.

"The child was a very young and newborn Halinor Estella Belpois. She was probably a few days old, maybe a week at the most, but when XANA bound her to be the newest core of Lyoko, and when she was separated about a half day later from the core, a portion of who Hallie is lingered behind effectively personifying the core of Lyoko. To say the least, a connection was formed between Hallie and the Heart of Lyoko. The heart has emotions, awareness, is very sensitive to XANA's business, and what occurs on Lyoko. The heart can also temporarily roam Lyoko in a form that is almost a carbon copy of Hallie's Lyoko form. Because of their connection, Hallie can pick up on the heart's voice, state of mind and knowledge. I can also pick up on the Heart's status, mood and voice, and I'm sure if you listened hard enough, you could as well.

"The point is, Hallie was safely separated from Lyoko and the core of Sector 5 to the point where she can walk around on earth, grow and such, but there is a mirroring portion of her left in Lyoko. The Heart and Hallie are like twins having originated from the same heart, mind, spirit, and soul. The two are intricately tied together to the point that if one died the other would follow suit, but if the Heart is walking around and interacting with us then there is a very good chance that Hallie has somehow survived also. Before we can conclude that we first need answers to a lot of questions that we have up until this point been avoiding."

(-:-)

The investigation started with Hallie's mindset three weeks before in the time period where she had been withdrawn and avoiding most of the group, particularly Dante. The group had split up in order to follow their assignments for the investigation.

Dante: checking the supercomputer history over the past three weeks of all of XANA attacks, movements of XANA's monsters, movements of Lyoko warriors, and previous uses of the supercomputer.

Drew and Riley: Discreetly gathering information of Hallie's movements, actions, attitudes, and moods from fellow classmates, teachers, and school staff.

Sakura: Searching Hallie's stuff (most of which was being stored temporarily in Sakura's dorm room until further notice from Hallie's parents) which included her diary entries, notes, school notebooks, and the like.

Slowly the group began to piece together the sequence of events of the past three weeks. The link of connection between the four was, of course, the mobile phone. The entire group reported back their information to Dante as he created a portfolio of Hallie's mindset and actions in an attempt to understand what she had been working toward. But somehow there just weren't enough answers for the questions Dante was asking.

Even when Sakura hit the jackpot in the detailed schemes that had been brewing in the pink princess's head for in the past month before her fall, Dante still had unanswered questions. The first question Dante had was one that had been nagging him for oh so long like a thorn in his side a pebble in his shoe. This question wasn't just one asked out of justified curiosity but out of **pride**.

Q1: How in the history of humankind did Hallie successfully find a way to materialize me (being Dante) off of Lyoko _against my will_?

A1: Program EXORCISM

Details: (information supplemented through Sakura's research in Hallie's notes, Riley's knowledge from his brief midnight encounter with Hallie, and my (being Dante) first hand experience). –_Direct quote from Hallie's diary_-Program exorcism a program designed to make it possible to materialize the mighty Dante from his high invincible throne onto the lowly peasant land of Earth without his wishing it. Through the transfer of certain codes from me to Dantes, he will be rendered mortal and susceptible to the scanners.

Reasons for carrying this out: Dantes is a prick that needs to have his ego taken down a few pegs (not a true reflection of my feelings, but it is not my fault if someone who **should not be reading** this diary comes **snooping** in a **private** journal finds remarks that are unflattering to his character. P.S. If you are not me (being Halinor Belpois) stop reading this).

Well, now that the snoops are hopefully gone **(evil glare)** my real reasons for program exorcism. Dante is darkening and is becoming unstable. Precautions have to be taken in order to prevent this. One, Dante is our ace in the hole against XANA, or he was up until the point he lost the ability to use the Code Lyoko code and inherited the Code XANA code. With the inheritance of the Code XANA code, Dante is growing into powers of a consistently darker nature (manipulation of XANA's monsters, creating illusions on Lyoko of a person's worst fear…) that while they are being used for good are ultimately making Dante increasingly susceptible to XANA's influence.

In order to bolster Dante's immunity to XANA and to protect him, dare I say it, from XANA a transfer of code(s) (probably just one, which one specifically I am not sure at this point) will be needed 1. For program exorcism to work, and 2. In order to counteract his Code XANA. Program Exorcism will use the code transplanted to Dante combined with his DNA signature to materialize Dante onto earth.

Problems: 1. which code to transplant and whose (mine, my mothers, create a new one?). 2. How to transplant the code without XANA or Dante picking up on it (because if one knows the other will soon find out and neither of the two parties will appreciate the loss (for one of freedom and independence and for the other opportunities). 3. How to transplant the code period.

Dante's Notes/Details: Transplant successful and undetected up until usage of the Code Lyoko code on an activated tower. Number of codes transplanted: four. Code Lyoko, Code Earth, Code Heal (used to restore LP, combat XANA's parasitic monsters, see report on the parasite that attached itself to Sakura's head, examples being: leech/dementor, and lyokoware), and Code Restore (used to retrieve deleted data, monsters, possibly deleted Lyoko regions (ice and mountain) and to reconstruct random data of certain personal who fall into the digital void. More properties of the code may exist).

How transplanted: codes were transplanted under unique circumstances of the XANA attack on the VR Station. Codes transplanted via physical contact outside of the deactivated tower of said XANA attack.

Unanswered Questions: If Hallie was only planning to transplant originally one code then why all four of her codes when it would leave her capable of being stranded on Lyoko and consequentially vulnerable? Who was the title of the program directed toward, XANA or myself?

Side note: exorcise: to free from an evil spirit.

The discovery over the Program exorcism answered many additional questions of Hallie's odd behavior patterns. As informed to Dante by Sakura, in order to prevent being foiled in successfully completing program exorcism undetected by friend and foe, Hallie had avoided most of her friends, distancing herself and commenced with midnight runs on Lyoko to further work on her "special project".

After checking her record of visits to Lyoko, particularly Sector 5, Dante noticed a constant trend of Hallie visiting Lyoko alone, in the middle of the night, until up to four days before the VR trip which explained Riley's confrontation of Dante in the lobby of the Chronos VR center.

But questions still nagged at him as undiscovered sides of Hallie were laid bare in front of him. The main debate going on was about her motives. Why would she strive so far with such sacrifices looming in front of her? Granted, Hallie had no way of knowing what would follow her successful transplantation of her codes, but even then she must have known that there would be consequences for her actions.

Two answers came to Dante's mind both very strong and a bit much for him to accept.

Hallie was extremely passionate about the thwarting of XANA's attacks and chances of growing advantages. Either Hallie had been toying with Dante and used him as a pawn in the war the Lyoko Warriors were waging against XANA, or what Professor Belpois said upon parting from Dante was true.

_My daughter cared very deeply…_

Either it was a clever ploy of strategy, or something Dante wasn't to sure he wanted to think about_._

But at the very least Dante understood his sudden vulnerability to the scanners and the supercomputer pilot's whim and where the strange new codes had sprouted from. He had known Hallie had had a hand in it, but now he could see exactly what her hand had done in the proceedings.

More mysterious questions unraveled with the discovery of Program Exorcism. The reason Hallie wasn't able to hightail it out of Lyoko and back onto earth once she realized she was seriously outnumbered was answered with the fact Hallie had virtualized codeless onto Lyoko without anyone to real her back in. After having transplanted her code earth code in order to have Program Exorcism successfully function, Hallie had been left effectively stranded to tough out whatever circumstances arose on Lyoko until backup arrived.

Why she had been on Lyoko alone when she knew she was codeless and vulnerable was still to be answered, but Riley had a theory about that. Hallie trusted Dante, explicitly so as recent events proved. If Hallie had been tricked into believing there was a XANA attack commencing she would have gone onto Lyoko regardless of her loss of codes in order to be of some type of assistance. If she had indeed been tricked onto Lyoko she would have been stranded, and most likely convinced she was going to immediately rendezvous with someone in the group.

In the end Hallie was more susceptible to being tricked because she had distanced herself from the group. It had been all the easier for XANA to lure the to trusting, naïve, ignorant, roseate simpleton onto Lyoko (Dante was still simmering from learning via Sakura and Hallie's diary that Hallie had been under the impression that he, Dante, had contacted her saying there was an active tower. She had so naively trusted "his" message defying all common sense and red flags that signaled that it was not Dante contacting her. And XANA just had to gloat to the world about how well he had succeeded by sending his haunting text messages to the group on the bus. Do you know where Hallie is indeed). XANA, he could see now, played off of the lack of communication, and Hallie's foolishly deep trust in Dante to lure her into his trap on Lyoko.

The eyewitness accounts Riley and Drew picked up from students and staff said that "Stella" had been running full out for the bus pausing twice only to fiddle around with her phone, and after the second fiddling she had immediately changed directions from the bus pickup to the girl's dormitory. She had been duped clearly and successfully by a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Now the Heart was walking around after almost two weeks of silence. In fact, it was two weeks to the day since Hallie had plummeted helplessly into the digital sea, and only now it was discovered the Heart of Lyoko was walking around Lyoko. The last time Dante had seen the Heart of Lyoko walking around and not keeping too her core was when he was enraptured with his nightmare in the Hall of Illusion. She had purposefully come out then and had broken the illusion halting his living nightmare. Yes, from the Hall of Illusions up until Sakura's dip, Dante had spoken with and listened to the Heart, but since then, no, well, except for when Drew hit the digital sea.

Dante had clearly heard the word "MOVE!" being shouted across the regions from the core of Sector 5. Logic said the Heart was in the core from the distance at which her voice traveled still retaining its clarity and urgency in its message, but…but if he was to believe Drew's account, the Heart came and stabilized Drew's condition until Dante could reach the forest way tower and enter Code Restore.

What the Heart had said the personality in it, yes, the Heart acted a lot like Hallie. The words Drew had relayed to Dante had sounded like something Hallie would have said, not the Heart. Suddenly, Dante realized he had a headache. Somehow the reassurance that the Heart was walking about and no longer silent dimmed. All that the fact that the Heart was out and about ensured was that Hallie was alive. It did not point anywhere towards the ability or knowledge of how to _find_ her and _materialize_ her (though Dante was working furiously to null that statement).

It also didn't give any hope that _if_ they found Hallie, and _if_ they materialized her, she would emerge unscathed from her experience in the digital void. She had been fully drained by Skippy Jr. as Drew had reported from the readouts on the supercomputer. Even if Hallie's body did return there was no reassurance that Hallie's mind would come with it, and _if_ it did, hat she would remember anything. It would be a miracle by the hand of God if Hallie didn't emerge from Lyoko worse off then she was before, and that was if they could find her and get her off in the first place.

(-:-)

Sakura was a wee bit uncomfortable. Sure she had been given permission from the group and Hallie's mom that it was OK for her to read Hallie's diary, but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable for her about the invasion of her friend's privacy. What she was reading was part of her friend's innermost thoughts and feelings which she had chosen not to disclose with the world. This was her friend's sanctuary, and she, Sakura Stern was reading it! The whole situation bothered her conscious in more ways then one.

What also disturbed Sakura was that she was doing something that she knew she would not want to have done to herself even for the purest of purposes. She would know. She had had it happen to her in past where her diary was read against her will which was part of the reason why she had ceased in keeping a diary.

Sakura had discovered a more detailed side of Hallie, and her more private side. She had been given a glimpse of Hallie's heart, something Hallie was usually smart enough to keep hidden away and well protected from foolish, reckless behaviors that would lead to heartbreak. Even in her diary Hallie was…reserved about herself and her feelings to an extent. Suffice it to say she wore part of her heart on her sleeve in her diary.

One particular diary entry caught Sakura's eye. It was about Lyoko and Hallie's infamous nightmares.

_It's me again. I know this is going to sound redundant since I've started many such diary entries with this sentence, so you probably can guess what is coming next, but I had a really strange dream last night._

_It was that dream again, the falling one. The dream where I fall helpless into oblivion. This is what, the fifth (?) time I've dreamed that dream (I'll tally it up later)._

_The dream always starts the same way. I'm on Lyoko, alone or at least with no one to help me or save me. I'm helpless as something holds me spellbound and immobile and then…well, I'm falling and then I crash into oblivion, a haunting darkness. Usually by then I wake up and can't fall asleep again._

_Previously, I have dismissed this dream as a nightmare, a torment from XANA's influence. He's used these tactics in the past, but now I'm finding that I no longer believe it's from XANA. I'm beginning to take this dream as a warning._

_I have this…idea (finally) of how I may be able to help Dante, and ensure that even if I couldn't reach the activated tower, the tower could still be deactivated._

_I'm not always going to be there to deactivate the towers. This brings up consequently Dante. I may not be able to reach Lyoko or even the factory in time, but I'm pretty sure Dante will._

Sakura knew from the date that the particular diary entry had been written the day after the bomb threat starting the two weeks of Hallie's avoidance of her friends, two weeks prior to her fall.

Hallie had known in a strange way that something was going to happen to her, so she had prepared for the future creating Program EXORCISM and even eventually transferring all of her codes to Dante for "safekeeping" as he had described it. It was eerie, Hallie's foresight that is.

(-:-)

Dante leaned back away from the computer screen. He had…an idea about how it could be possible to find Hallie, but first he needed help. So without further ado Dante preceded to contact the most despised and respected man in Dante's book right below his father.

Maybe he called because he realized he was missing something that someone else would easily pick up on. Maybe it was because of the nature of the situation, and who was involved in this whole affair. Or maybe Dante harkened back to the saying _the enemy of my enemy is my friend._

Regardless, Dante called.

"Hello, Mr. Belpois? This is Dante Millard. I may have a way to get Hallie off of Lyoko, but I need your help."

* * *

Well, I hope I've cleared up some confusion my obscure hints and mentions in previous chapters may have caused. I've basically explained why Dante has Hallie's codes, how he got them, why he was devirtualized, and explained how Drew was pulled out of the digital void.

Captain Mayhem, this is for you. Try two. Rotem, while I would have liked to have updated sooner, it was not meant to be. For the record I have been semi-grounded without computer privileges starting last Friday at 5 o'clock until I landed a summer job. I also had a nasty allergic reaction to my sunscreen that broke out Friday, and my hands were busy holding an icepack to my neck to stop the itching rendering me unable to type.

On the positive side, after four days of no computer I HAVE A SUMMER JOB! This means I can be in band next fall, and I love band. I spent Monday through Friday of last week attending band camp hence the reason why I had sunscreen on which led to my breakout, the doctor's appointment…yeah.

Anyway, more good news (you don't have to continue reading this I'm just going to talk about the end of the story when I might publish it and such). Starting Tuesday I'm catching a 6:30am flight up to Montana (and since my dad is big on getting there an two hours before the flight leaves that means I'll be waking up at circa 2:30ish in the morning) with my family, and we're going to Yellowstone and the Tetons! I'm going to be gone for eight days

So, I can either attempt to finish the story before vacation giving me until Monday to finish writing and typing it up or you can wait until a week from Tuesday, maybe later since I'll be starting by job…

Anyhoo…I'M GOING TO MONTANA! And it's going to be COLD! Which is a novelty for this Texas girl. There's going to be MOUNTAINS unlike this coastal on which I live.

-authoress note 6-13-08- wow, it's friday the thirteenth!

* * *

Chapter 79:


	80. Chapter 80: The end of the beginning

**Chapter 80: The end of the beginning**

Excerpts from Hallie's diary:

_Hey diary, it's the liar writing (liar or should I say masquerader?). Dante and my dad don't get along well together at all. Take earlier for example when Dante collapsed from exhaustion (the lug head needs to sleep more) and my dad found him. Not good at all. Coming out of the nurse's office I could immediately feel the tenseness of the atmosphere increase as my dad went in._

_It's not so much the problem that my dad holds something against Dante, but it's more like Dante holds something against my dad. And if I was in my right mind, I would most likely know why the disturbance is occurring._

_Well back to my problem with amnesia. It's a little better, but a huge (huge, HUGE) part is still inaccessible. It's like there's a barrier keeping me from remembering, not a mental protection of mine, but an outside force. I just want to know what I've missed._

_No one should forget almost a year of their life. We learn from our experiences, and it's as if a vital part of me is missing because I can't remember. Maybe that's the reason I'm so quote on quote "unstable" on Lyoko, my lack of those eight months of memories._

_I just want my memories back. I want me back. I want my past for better or for worse, the good and the bad. Why won't it return?_

_Anyway…sorry to change subjects so abruptly, but back to my dad and Dantes (weird nickname by the way). I really want those two to get along. I do, but unless something drastic occurs, I don't think anything will bridge the Berlin Wall of mistrust between the two._

(O)

Well, Sakura noted as she gawked uncannily like a catfish at the sight in front of her, Hallie had been right. It had taken something drastic to bridge the gap between the spawn of XANA and the Number one anti-XANA Lyoko Warrior.

It had taken the disappearance and possible death of Hallie to get those two stubborn rock heads to collaborate. The funny thing was looking at them now you would never have guessed that they had been "enemies".

"I know how to get Hallie off of Lyoko, but first in order to do that—" Dante was explaining animatedly to one Professor Jeremy Belpois.

"—you have to find her. What scans have you done, and where have you scanned?" Jeremy continued.

"The desert and forest regions, plus the digital sea."

"What about Sector 5?"

"It was also included in the scan."

Jeremy sat back in the computer chair (Dante had been demoted to standing) and rubbed his goatee in thought.

"We also have another problem other then not being able to find Hallie," Dante continued in a low voice in order to not be overheard, "up until recently we have all been disillusioned into thinking Hallie was dead with we including XANA. The whole purpose in attacking Hallie for the past months has been to eliminate her, and up until yesterday, XANA thought he had successfully accomplished that specific goal."

"What happened?" Jeremy asked ignoring presently that his daughter had failed to inform him on the attempts on her life.

"In the defense of a friend, one of our own fell into the digital sea," Dante was intent on not pointing fingers in his summation of the most current Lyoko events.

Jeremy nodded. He could see where this was going.

"After Hallie's fall and presumed death, the Heart of Lyoko had been presumed dead and inactive with her, but when one of one of our own fell into the digital sea, it was discovered the Heart wasn't as dead and inactive as we had thought."

"To what extent?"

"The Heart spoke and apparently reversed the deterioration of the Lyoko form in the digital sea effectively stabilizing him until I could pull him off of Lyoko."

"So we have a time limit now and competition," Jeremy asserted, "XANA now knows that Hallie isn't as dead as he thought. Despite how much more stressful the situation has become, I would not for anything wish away Hallie's soft heart. What was your point of origin for the scans?"

"The core room," Dante replied.

"Did you go personally into the core room yourself?"

"Yes."

"Before or after the Heart was proven active?"

"Before."

"And she was silent?"

"Up until the point Drew became Digital Sea Diver Number Two the Heart was silent as the grave."

"I thought so," Jeremy muttered, "When Hallie was a child she loved fairytales."

Dante frowned not seeing where Professor Belpois was going with this. "Sir?"

Jeremy gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry this has the utmost relevance with our current topic of discourse. Cinderella, Snow White and Rose Red, the Goose Girl, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Cap o' Rushes, Tom Thumb, she devoured them all. Those were then followed by the spy novels and Artemis Fowl books. Then there was Ella Enchanted and the superhero stint. And then she discovered manga.

"While my daughter never lost her love of fairy tales and happily ever afters, she became more aquatinted with how to use her mind and think. She learned to always have a trick up her sleeve, to rise above the odds whenever possible, and to stay one step ahead of the villain. Then she rediscovered Lyoko and XANA, and she had to put her sly ways to the test.

Now, where do you think Hallie is on Lyoko? Don't answer. Take a moment to think. Think back on the past month, about what we know as a fact."

Dante paused as he let the facts of the case come to him.

"Hallie fell into the digital sea approximately two weeks ago, unconscious."

"Fact Number One," Jeremy labeled.

"After scanning the forest, desert and the entirety of Sector 5 coupled with the silence of the Heart of Lyoko, Hallie was presumed dead.

"Fact Number Two."

"Two days ago, Drew was stabilized after a fall into the digital sea by an "angel" which was later deduced to be the Heart of Lyoko out, about, and talking."

"Fact Number Three. Now with my background knowledge of my daughter, and your background knowledge of my daughter, what can you conclude?"

"I don't know. That was the whole point of why I called you."

Jeremy sighed. The stress was getting to the teens as well as the adults.

"We have good reason to believe my daughter is alive, yes? She was not found in the desert, of forest sectors, nor in the digital sea, thus she must not be in the digital sea, forest, or desert sectors. The Heart has been seen active thus proving Hallie has indeed survived.

"A clever detective with a cocaine addiction is known for saying '"Once you've eliminated the impossible all that is left is the truth."' It's impossible that my daughter is in the digital sea, the forest, or desert sector. It is also impossible that she is dead since her Siamese twin has popped up."

"She's not in Sector 5 either, Professor," Dante growled.

Jeremy continued undeterred, "And it is also impossible for her to be on earth since the supercomputer holds no record of her materialization. Where does that leave for us to look?"

"Sector 5," Dante ground out wanting oh so desperately to pound the living daylights out of a certain Professor with selective hearing.

"Where exactly in Sector 5? I don't doubt you scanned the sector, but I do doubt you scanned the entire sector."

Dante snapped. "What are you talking about?" he bit out anger evident in his venomous tone, "I left no stone unturned, no rock undisturbed, no sector, no pathway, no hiding spot, and no hallway unchecked. I turned that Sector inside out. I searched inside starting from a silent heart and working my way out—" Dante cut off his rant as realization dawned of where exactly he hadn't looked or scanned.

He had started from the inside out but he had never searched the inside of the inside.

"That's impossible. Who would hide themselves there? That's the first place anyone knowing a thing about Hallie's special privileges on Lyoko would look," Dante spoke in a monotone. Hallie was a genius.

"But it fooled you didn't it?" Jeremy countered, "And it fooled XANA. It was actually a brilliant move hiding there. I'm proud of my daughter for her inspired ingenuity."

"How did she even survive?" Dante countered.

Jeremy did not have an answer for that question, "I honestly do not know, but I can only assume my daughter used one of those many tricks she has up her sleeve in order to have remained undetected. What is next on the agenda?"

Dante had to force his mind off Hallie's hiding place with the brute muscle and strength of a sumo wrestler. It was time to proceed to Step 2 in his retrieve Hallie plan. Step 1 had been locating her. Step 2 was actually going and manually materializing her. It would take every code he had.

First things first though, he had to contact the rest of the first generation of Lyoko Warriors. He needed someone to stall XANA.

(O)

"Is everyone ready?"

A chorus of different variations of affirmation spread through the scanner room, Sector 5, and the supercomputer control room. Everyone was here. Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich Stern, Mr. Della Robia, and Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Belpois. The entire first generation and their respective children had gathered. In other words, Ulrich, Yumi, Riley, and Sakura Stern, Odd and Andrew Della Robia, and Jeremy and Aelita Belpois were present.

It had been decided after the arrival of the parents that Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd would be virtualized onto Lyoko along with Dante. Jeremy would man the supercomputer and, due to an unexpected rather interesting condition having settled on her, Aelita would stay on earth.

Other reluctant earthbound Lyoko Warriors included Riley, Drew, and Sakura. The reason being so that the rescue group going on Lyoko would not be slowed down by massive numbers. Only the most experienced veterans went which (quite unfair to the teens) were the parents with the exception of Dante.

This was it. Now was the time to retrieve their lost sheep, their damsel in distress, and their friend/loved one. There was no room for error. The only option for this mission was success.

"Alright everyone, this is how everything is going down. Ulrich and Yumi will accompany Dante on his route. XANA has quite the welcoming committee waiting, so Ulrich and Yumi, you two will act as escorts destroying XANA's monsters as needed in order to keep XANA from distracting Dante. Dante, you are going to proceed to Hallie's hypothesized location on Lyoko. Is everyone clear on their assignments?"

There was only one lone person in the scanner room that had not been addressed or virtualized onto Lyoko, and Odd had no qualms about speaking up. "Hey Einstein, am I supposed to twiddle my thumbs down here, or go to Lyoko?"

When Jeremy replied you could easily detect the smile in his voice, "You, my friend are going exploring."

The two groups were mobilized and virtualized at two different times. Ulrich, Yumi, and Dante first were virtualized with Odd following five minutes later.

The interior of Sector 5 was eerily quite and docile. There were no ambushes, no creepy crawlers, no booby trapped rooms, and not a sight of the promised welcoming committee. Only Jeremy and Dante knew of the true welcome in store for the trio venturing out onto the exterior of Sector 5.

The two party's paths deviated at where they departed from Sector 5's rippin' and roarin' elevator. Dante and Co. waited until the end of the ride before restoring their seats to an upright position and launching out onto the landing dock while Odd took an early exit jumping off as the elevator zoomed past his stop.

Jeremy had one final word with Odd before he ceased communication. Odd was proceeding to a location to confirm Hallie's location on Lyoko. Odd had been briefed privately with Jeremy before his virtualization. All that was left was a final, short word before Jeremy became the all Seeing Eye for the trio about to venture out to meet XANA's welcoming committee.

"Alright Odd, is everything clear?"

"Clear as mud, but I will do my best. Follow the yellow brick road?"

"Correct, follow the yellow brick road."

And lo and behold, beneath Odd's feet the ground turned yellow highlighting his path to said secret final destination. Odd had one final word before he dashed off down the path. "Tell the others to play nice and to kill a few mantas for me." And off he went as if shot from a cannon running down the yellow brick road.

Off at the hallway leading to the exterior of sector 5

Ulrich waited calmly for the word to proceed forward from Jeremy. Always a man of some type of movement, Ulrich was running through his forms and stances of swordplay calling forth from the dark recesses of his memory his knowledge and skill with swords.

Yumi herself was refreshing old memories in a simpler way. She was practicing opening and closing her fans. It was that simple. She was just flicking open and closed a fan.

Ulrich paused from fighting his invisible opponent to tease his wife. "Somehow, I don't think you're going to be killing many monsters by waving a fan open at them."

The poor man.

It was only after the words had left Ulrich's mouth that his brain caught up with him. He knew Yumi. He had met her when they were pre-teens and had fought alongside her against XANA for three years while attending school alongside her at the same time. Add on 20 plus years of marriage and he should know better. In fact, he did know better.

Ulrich knew his wife well enough to instantly bring his sword into a defensive guard position when _that_ look entered her eye. Instantaneously, a metallic ring of the collision of the fan meeting the sword registered in his senses, so that when Ulrich's eyes next darted to his wife he could clearly see the raised eyebrow, the smug smile, and the relaxed stance of an uncoiled snake.

"I think XANA's monsters should be running for the ills," he said while amending his previous statement.

Yumi smiled and prance up to Ulrich like a smug cat. "I love you too," she replied and pecked him on the cheek.

Dante was watching the two's interaction with rapt interest. These were Riley and Sakura's parents. Well, he could see where Sakura had inherited that dangerous gleam in her eye. She had picked it up from her mother.

The light mood was sobered as Jeremy's voice spoke to the trio. "Alright you guys, you know what to do. Your vehicles are being uploaded as I speak."

As one the three dashed down the short hall and out into the exposed aerial arena of Sector 5. All three halted at the fantastic sight in front of them.

"Jeremy," Ulrich spoke with the authority that came with his role of the manager of a professional soccer team, "we're going to need some back-up, pronto."

In front of the Sterns and Dante were enough flying mantas to personally blow them to infinity and beyond. XANA's welcoming committee had come to call.

Odd felt young again. The last time he had this much fun was when he watched two young actors during the filming of _Dracula_ prank the techies by adding red food dye to the water cooler. The resulting red hue had caused many of the crew to resort to bring a personal supply of water up to the set. Odd stifled a laugh just at the memory of the event. Good times, good times.

Indeed, speeding off toward a destination only known as "The Map Room" while following a pulsing line of yellow light did much to stir up the adventure in Odd. His mission was simple. Proceed to the map room. Confirm the mini princess's location, and join the firefight outside the spherical structure of Sector 5. The beauty of the plan was that XANA's attention would be focused on the trio engaging his welcoming committee while Odd flew under the radar right under XANA's nose.

Odd pulled up out of his loping gait until he slid to a stop just in front of a dead end. He looked right. He looked left. He looked up, and he looked down. The pulsing yellow path was flashing so brightly and frequently it reminded Odd of a slideshow proceeding at the speed of light. All he could pick up from his surroundings was that he was at a dead end.

_Unless_, and Odd acting on a hunch turned around. Now Odd's hunches, they were remnants of his ability to see into the future on Lyoko a long, long time ago, or at least that's what he considered them to be. In the past when Odd acted on his hunches, whims some might see them, that gut instinct had brought about great plot lines, a solid cast of actors (who could actually act), and usually resulted in a smashing success of a film.

Behind Odd in the most unlikely of places stood a doorway minus the door and a room that could only be the map room right behind Odd. Odd rubbed his hands together in delight and proceeded to walk through the doorway into the map room.

Three packs of manta (about 20 per pack) were trailing five flying specks around Sector 5 with a dogged tenacity that would have outshone the bulldog. Surveying the sector with an objective eye would bring attention at the top of the sector as what appeared to be a storm cloud teemed with lightning.

Dante was annoyed to say the least. No matter how many manta he blasted into oblivion two more seemed to take each deceased's place. Even though he had been able to tame a few of the mantas for Ulrich and his replications to joyride on, the three (counting the replications, five) weren't making that much progress toward their goal. XANA had effectively blockaded the three in a successful effort of retarding their progress towards Hallie.

"Clear!" he snarled his voice carrying clearly through the swarm of mantas to Ulrich and Yumi. Both wheeled far away on their respective modes of transportation (overwing, overbike, mantas) from Dante. The lightning flashes increased in their intensity tenfold until a thick red streak of electricity shot out of the cloud and fried the mantas swarming Dante. Immediately after the 20 or so mantas fizzled out of existence nearly 30 were hatching to reform the blockade.

No, Dante wasn't annoyed. He was frustrated beyond reason.

The real Ulrich, not one of his replications, had been having a semi grand time. A replication was navigating the overbike while he personally super sprinted/jumped across the backs of mantas leaving a trail of destruction behind him before catching a joyride on his own tamed manta. The second replication of himself was hewing out a path of split mantas in a very similar way as the real Ulrich.

But while jumping around in tights swinging a sword and fulfilling the call of the warrior in his blood was fun, Ulrich was full aware of the upper hand XANA had currently. With the flurry of mantas swarming them, Ulrich could not safely move his group up to Hallie's unconfirmed, supposed location. To do so would be madness. Not only would the difficultly in the retrieval of Hallie increase, but there was the distinct possibility Hallie would not come out of hiding if any of XANA's monsters were in the surrounding area.

Ulrich spun on his heel, and with a yellow blur following his racing form, and gave out a yell worthy of the movies while cannon balling downwards with his sword pointed firmly down. He ripped through three mantas before he momentarily sheathed his sword and landed with a roll on his tame manta.

Before the eye could blink, Ulrich had two swords out and was slashing at all mantas foolish enough to fly close enough to enter his field of sword range. A smug smirk was working its way onto his face. After that kid Dante's lightning strike the manta cloud was considerably thinner, thin enough maybe for the three to make their move. The smug smirk was wiped off Ulrich's face at the sound of an enraged manta's screech right behind him.

Ulrich whirled around knowing he was going to lose precious life points for his utter stupidity in letting his mind wander when the attacking manta convulsed as a tear over its XANA's eye became visible before it exploded. Letting out a mental sigh of relief, Ulrich gazed past the area that the manta had previously occupied and caught a glimpse of a spiraling fan.

Momentarily, his eyes softened before hardening with purpose. "Jeremy, if you can do anything to help us, we would really appreciate it," he barked out, "we're up to our eyeballs in mantas right now."

"I'm working on a mass deconstruction program to wipe out the mantas, but the only problem would be that it might not exclude you three in its sweep. Don't worry though, just focus on getting to Hallie."

Odd's mission, now that he had reached the map room, was simple. The search engine, which had been where Jeremy's maps had said it would be, was digesting and processing his simple question. **Where is Hallie?**

There was a risk factor with using the search engine to find Hallie. Their connection wasn't secure. As soon as the answer popped up confirming Hallie's location and existence on Lyoko, XANA would also have that information.

Odd's fists curled. He could imagine the pain Aelita and Jeremy were experiencing. He was a parent, and he had a child. XANA would be a fool if he even tried to harm a hair on Odd's son's head.

The only times Odd had seen the little Belpois had been shortly after she was born, on her fifth birthday, and during that weird time traveling experience both when she came and visited and when he and Ulrich visited.

Odd had formed an attachment to her. She was the daughter of two of his closest friends, Einstein and Princess. He would do anything for those two.

Ulrich and Yumi, from what Aelita had told him, interacted with Hallie far more then Odd had. It was very safe to say all of the first generation of Lyoko warrior's had a portion of their heart reserved to this girl, and all would go to far lengths to bring her home safe and sound.

Odd glanced at the screen then dashed off back the way he had come. Time was up. Hallie's location was confirmed.

"We have a confirmed location, I repeat. We have a confirmed location. Alright Ulrich, let's roll." Jeremy spoke as he checked the results on the window that had just popped up on the supercomputer screen.

Inwardly he was both up in knots and caught up with relief. His little girl was right where he supposed she would be, but now XANA knew where she was. All Jeremy could do was watch and have faith that XANA's rebellious son would reach Hallie first before XANA.

Dante could feel it, the ripple of intelligence sparking from the other version of the Sector. XANA knew. He knew, and Dante was no closer to reaching Hallie then he had been at the beginning of the firefight.

He needed more time, more men; he needed speed, and he needed the mantas to get out of his way. Yumi and Ulrich barely picked up the shouted word "Clear!" before another lightning bolt pierced through the cloud of mantas.

"Hey!" yelled an indignant voice from above, "watch it!"

Ulrich, Yumi, and Dante turned their eyes to the ledge outside of Sector 5. Staring down at them with huge grins on their faces were Odd, Sakura, Riley and Drew all raring for a fight.

"And we have back-up," Ulrich muttered to himself. But did it have to be their kids?

"Hey Dante!" yelled Sakura, "I thought you were supposed to be finding my best friend and bringing her home."

Dante grinned. Without being told Ulrich and Yumi abandoned their vehicles for their own manta steed leaving the overwing, overbike, and soon to be virtualized overboard for their backup. Soon the three mantas were off flying to the bottom of Sector 5 while the Second Generation plus Odd diverted away the mantas' fire.

Down the mantas flew until they reached an entrance into Sector 5 that parted to reveal jagged like teeth opening and closing at an irregular pattern. It was the entrance to the core room.

The three mantas soared in, deposited their passengers and soared out. Ulrich and Yumi eyed the room with familiarity. They knew this room with its vaulted ceiling and blue block stairway spiraling up and out of sight. They knew what lay at the top.

They knew where Dante was headed when a black version of the overboard virtualized in front of him. They knew where he was headed as he soared up out of their sight leaving them to take the stairs. This was the room where the core of Lyoko rested, and, apparently, Hallie.

_Of all the places she could have chosen to hide, she had to pick the most obvious one. She picked the one place she knew we wouldn't look for her. I __**knew**__ I should have scanned the core._

Of course, Dante hadn't. He had started the scans at the area just outside the core, but he had not included the interior of the core. It had been a cowardly act.

At the time, he hadn't wanted to be confronted with the supposed absence of life in the core that would mirror Hallie's loss of life. If he had only had the nerve, the guts to face his fears, then Hallie would be home already. Only Hallie would be able to hide in the core of Lyoko.

Looking back, Dante could hypothesize how she got there. Based on past experiences, even though unconscious and drained, if Hallie still had her energy defenses running she could have quite possibly thrown up a force field around herself right before or as she entered the digital sea.

There were many precedents where Hallie had not consciously protected herself or others when in extreme danger. There was the time when she had horribly overdone her energy pulse which had nearly sent her hurtling into the digital sea except for a lone desert platform that had appeared out of nowhere and had stopped her fall. A lone desert platform that she had created without knowing she had.

Later the same day part of the same mission when the two had been split up and when Dante had been in the negative version of Sector Five, Hallie had taken to defending Drew as he waited for the download to complete. She had thrown up a force field; Dante was quite sure the force field wasn't consciously put up seeing how she was blown off her feet and sent skidding along the floor. That and she would have had the common sense to be included in the force field.

This was all in Hallie's resilient nature.

Take away her memories, she'll return to the same graduating class she had shared prior to the accident. Leave her in the dark about Lyoko, she'd be kidnapped and kicked back into the fight to save the world. Forbid her from going on Lyoko, she'd learn how to master the super computer instead.

Say she's a normal Lyoko warrior, she'd deactivate a tower. Say she's only allowed on Lyoko with company, and she'd go exploring by herself at the first chance she was given.

Toss her into the digital sea, she'd throw up a force field until the Heart of Lyoko could fish her out.

This brought up another question. Since Hallie was obviously dumped into the digital sea and survived, did the Heart bring her to the core of Lyoko or did Hallie consciously do it herself? Dante had a feeling, as the double shield surrounding the core rapidly came into view, that he would find out soon.

Decelerating rapidly, Dante's board came to a gentle hover only 10 yards from the shimmering core. The whole core shone with silver light, and the sphere, tucked away protectively by the two exterior shields, was an impenetrable white. An atmosphere of lightheartedness perpetuated the area much like the airy giggle Dante had heard when he discovered his repossession of the Code Lyoko code.

A white mist crept out of the core, past the two shields, and swirled gently while curling around Dante's boards and heels as if too say hello. Then the mist retreated and pulled back into itself to form a solid data screen much like the one that Dante would find in a tower.

But only part of the mist had changed into the data screen. The remainder swirled in upon itself until an airy figure appeared hovering between Dante and the core. The figure cocked its head letting pink curls cascade to the side as curious green eyes peered at him. The figure was dressed in white and looked remarkably like Hallie.

It was the Heart.

"Where's Hallie?" Dante asked.

He needn't have asked it. They both knew where Hallie was, but they both knew only the Heart knew how to fetch her.

A smile crept onto the Heart's face, and her body shook with light laughter. A thought entered Dante's head then. The thought wasn't his thought.

_She's hiding and is very tired._

'_How do I find her?'_ Dante thought back to the Heart. Another smile adorned the Heart's face, and she made a gesture to the screen in front of him.

_You just have to enter the right code._ The smile left her face as a shadow came over it. _He's coming,_ came a dull, monotone. _It's taken you much to long to come and find her. She's in grave danger that even I might not be able to protect her from. If you're going to take her then proceed immediately._

There was no question over who _he_ was. Both the Heart and Dante knew who _he_ could only be. XANA.

Dante looked at the Heart and at the data screen in front of her.

"Is she alright?" he asked. '_Is she alive? Will she remember us? Will she return whole?'_

Whether the Heart heard his thought then or not Dante would never quite be sure. She just continued to gesture at the data screen in front of Dante.

Slowly, but surely, Dante placed his hand on the data screen. The machine instantly recognized his virtual handprint and genetic code. The first words to type on the screen were the usual.

Name: The Prodigy

Code:

And here things changed.

Code: R-E-S-T-O-R-E

The shields around the core expanded, growing and widening until Dante and the top of the stairs behind him were encompassed inside the shield. And with the shields came the light. Down below on the stairs and out in the air outside of Sector 5, all Lyoko Warriors flinched as a bright light emitted out of the circular opening at the bottom of the sphere and pierced the wall of data surrounding Sector 5.

Numbers began to stream up from the wall of data back along the path of light and up into the core. Awed faces followed the path of one's and zero's and even the mantas shied away beating a heavy retreat away from the light.

In the core the numbers began shaping itself until the accumulated one's and zero's betrayed a shape, a body form, and finally a wire frame. The code continued its work until a rather dull and beaten Lyoko form of Hallie was hovering in the air.

Then on the data screen a new name appeared.

Code: H-E-A-L

Swirls of light began to turn in spirals until a rain cloud containing spheres of light hovered just over Hallie's Lyoko form. Then the spheres began to rain down and be absorbed into Hallie's Lyoko from until the blue, pink, silver and her light skin tone all gleamed with health.

And then the most famous code of all.

Code: L-Y-O-K-O

Dante's black eyes snapped up from Hallie's revived Lyoko form at the sudden movement of the Heart. The Heart now seemed more solid then she had before no longer an ethereal wisp of air. The Heart closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then _stepped out of herself_.

Now there were two Hearts, err…Hallie's, err…two pink haired teenage girls with one adorned in white and very much awake while the other…

The second pink haired girl had her eyes closed and a peaceful look on her face. It was almost as if she was sleeping. This pink haired girl was wearing blue and was lacking a solid form.

Slowly, the solid white pink haired girl locked hands with the sleeping blue pink haired girl, and like a mother tucked the spirit into the Lyoko form hovering between herself and Dante.

Dante stepped forward off his board and onto thin air joining the Heart and the floating pink haired girl. He was enchanted unable to tear his eyes away. This was her. She was real. She wasn't dead. She was right here.

"Hal," he murmured as he hovered closer to her Lyoko form. Barely, just barely had he recognized the Heart moving, bending down over Hallie, and when he heard her whisper something just as Hallie came within arms reach.

"Wake up" was the soft whisper, and Dante could swear he saw Hallie begin to stir at those words. He missed the last code popping up on the data screen.

Code: E-A-R-T-H

And right before he could touch her, and be assured that she was real, Hallie faded out of sight borne on the scanner back to earth.

Jeremy was the one who made the announcement, "She's back and well."

Lyoko Warriors both parent and child broke out into ecstatic cheers at the news. Brother, sister, friend, husband, and wife all exchanged hugs at the news of the lost lamb's return. The mantas were forgotten and spirited off to XANA's stronghold where the computer program fumed at his loss.

Many things had to be done. Materializing all the Sterns and Della Robias, fetching Hallie from the scanners and sending her to the doctor to ensure her health, and consoling a semi broken hearted teen.

There was no hurry. There would be time to do all those things. There would be time for Hallie to be spirited away by her parents, and for her to complete her freshmen year of school at home. There would be time to uplift Dante's spirits and to have his old self back by the end of the school year.

There would be time for the adults to return to their lives after giving their children firm warnings, words of affirmation and protection. There would be time for the school year to end and carefully plan the summer's vacations, jobs, and dates. And for a moving truck to appear outside the Hermitage in late July and early August after hired help made the house suitable for living in again.

There would be time for XANA to regroup and plot dark schemes. Schemes that included the manipulation and maneuvering obstacles to play in his favor; if time proved the objects were resistant to be manipulation or maneuvering then the elimination of those obstacles would proceed.

There would be time for a strange girl with curly bubblegum pink hair and leafy green eyes framed with black wire glasses to walk through the entrance of Kaddic High Academy on the first day of school looking for friends she hadn't seen since the spring and was only now properly remembering.


End file.
